Legal Studies and the Changing Business Environment
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Authors
Finlayson, Patricia
Ayling, Diana
Ayling, Diana
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Date
2009
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Conference Contribution - Paper in Published Proceedings
Ngā Upoko Tukutuku (Māori subject headings)
Keyword
study relevance
business students
law students
legal knowledge
business students
law students
legal knowledge
ANZSRC Field of Research Code (2020)
Citation
Finlayson, P., and Ayling, D. (2009). Legal Studies and the Changing Business Environment. New Zealand Applied Business Education (NZABE) Conference.
Abstract
Anecdotal evidence suggests business students find the study of law difficult, and that they do
not understand the relevance of it to their business degrees. Law teachers' response has been to
question the curriculum design and methods of delivery in law teaching to non‐vocational
students. As there is little scientifically robust research into students' perceptions of the place of
law in business degrees the authors suggest that we need a clearer definition of why, and to
what extent, students perceive legal studies as difficult and irrelevant before law teachers
embark on a search for the holy grail of the perfect law teaching method for non‐vocational legal
studies. As a start to this journey the authors designed this study to survey all of the students in
both the undergraduate diploma course and two degree courses in law offered within the
departments of Accountancy and Finance and Management and Marketing at Unitec New
Zealand. Administered after the first two weeks of the semester, the survey collected both
demographic data and data on the students' perceptions of law studies. This paper reviews the
results from the initial data set which suggests that our multinational sample of students has, as
a group, a moderately positive perception of the relevance of law in business degrees but some
reservations about their having the skill set to use that legal knowledge in a constructive manner
in business. The paper suggests legal studies curriculum developers should consider how they
can improve student competencies to ensure graduate gain ''legal astutenes'' for global
economies.
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