Legal Studies and Business Ethics
Legal Studies and Business Ethics Concentration Advisor
Dr. Philip Nichols, nicholsp@wharton.upenn.edu, 215-898-9369
Legal studies concentrations are appropriate for students wanting to investigate issues in areas of contracts, corporate law, international business and commercial transactions, environmental law, securities regulation, or employment law, as well as legal dimensions of technology, sports and entertainment, entrepreneurship, real estate, and health care. Business ethics concentrations allow students to examine how business entities and individuals can better serve their own and society's interests through the observance and promotion of ethical, moral and social values.
The Legal Studies and Business Ethics Department offers an undergraduate concentration, which will normally be a secondary concentration. A Legal Studies and Business Ethics concentration cannot ordinarily count as a student’s only concentration in Wharton.
A secondary concentration in Legal Studies and Business Ethics requires a four credit unit program of upper-level courses offered in the Legal Studies and Business Ethics Department. Neither LGST 101 (Introduction to Law and Legal Process) nor LGST 210 (Corporate Responsibility and Ethics) may count toward these four credits. [Exception: If a student takes BPUB 203 (Business in the Global Political Environment) in addition to both LGST 101 and LGST 210, then LGST 210 may count as one credit only toward the Legal Studies and Business Ethics concentration.]
If students have strong reasons for taking Legal Studies and Business Ethics as their primary concentration, they must submit a special request for an individualized concentration indicating the courses that will be taken. To count as a primary concentration, the course selection must have the pre-approval of the Undergraduate Advisor in the Legal Studies and Business Ethics Department, as well as the approval of the Undergraduate Petitions Committee. Students seeking a primary concentration in business ethics must follow a similar procedure but should request advance approval of their proposed course selections from the Director of the Wharton Ethics Program.
In addition, the Legal Studies and Business Ethics Department offers, in conjunction with the History Department of Penn’s School of Arts and Science, a University Minor in Legal Studies and History. Wharton students interested in pursuing either this University Minor or a Legal Studies and Business Ethics concentration should contact the Undergraduate Advisor in the Legal Studies and Business Ethics Department; other students should contact the History Department.
Students considering going to law school should think twice before pursuing a Legal Studies and Business Ethics concentration for at least two reasons. First, an undergraduate concentration in Legal Studies and Business Ethics may not help a student’s chances of getting admitted to law school; admissions officers may prefer applicants whose transcripts show mastery of other fields. Second, law school in the United States consists of three years of intensive legal study, which tends to make previous undergraduate study superfluous. The Department therefore advises students interested in a professional legal career to take a broader range of courses during their undergraduate years at Wharton. Students who are thinking about attending law school are strongly encouraged to discuss their career plans with the pre-law advisor in Career Services.
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