I rather expected a book for entrepreneurs to include a chapter on real property, since many persons get their start with real estate investment. Mayer includes a chapter on mortgages, mechanics' liens, and other filings, but no real property per. read more
Reviewed by Linda Fried, Instructor, University of Colorado Denver on 4/24/20
Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less
I rather expected a book for entrepreneurs to include a chapter on real property, since many persons get their start with real estate investment. Mayer includes a chapter on mortgages, mechanics' liens, and other filings, but no real property per se. Similarly, Mayer devotes an entire chapter to personal property, but not real property.
Many of his chapters are fairly broad, often appearing to rehash information generally covered in most standard business law texts, whilst several are surprisingly deep in coverage.
Content Accuracy rating: 5
The book is accurate. The material appears to be fairly standard and correct.
Relevance/Longevity rating: 5
The book is up to date. That being said, business law does not change very often, so the materials will remain relevant for a number of years. With the exception of bringing in more recent cases, there will be no need for numerous changes to be made through the years.
Clarity rating: 4
The book is adequately phrased, with an appropriate amount of legalese and plain grammar to be easily understood by most undergraduates. Legal terminology is properly explained. Much of the material is very basic and very understandable, although some topics are surprisingly deep, even to the point of being too deep in coverage. I found it to be a fairly quick read, with the chapters surprisingly short.
Consistency rating: 5
The text makes consistent use of legal terminology that should be understood by an entrepreneur. It gives enough information so that the entrepreneur can determine what is actually written in documents (contracts and pleadings), as well as what is occurring, and when, and if, one actually needs the assistance of an attorney in the handling of affairs.
The framework of the chapter set ups is very consistent, in terms of both format and make up, with self-test questions and exercises.
Modularity rating: 5
The chapters are short to the point of being homogeneous, probably owing to the lack of depth in most of them. There are 36 chapters, so the materials are divided into small reading sections, with each taking 10 to 20 minutes to read the body of the chapters. Each chapter is self contained, without the need for a student to refer to other chapters for understanding.
Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 3
The ordering of the presented materials is not as even as I would have liked. For example, products liability is grounded in torts, but is placed after the chapters on contracts (9 of them). Insurance is before the chapters on agency, but should be after. Sole proprietorships are not truly discussed, and the chapters on corporations are split up with a chapter on securities regulation. The chapter on personal property is just added on at the end, but would have been better heaps earlier, or at least next to the one on intellectual property.
Interface rating: 5
The text looks good, and is very constant in the navigation, display, and colours. The spacing in paragraphs is likewise consistent and appropriate.
Grammatical Errors rating: 5
The grammar appeared consistent throughout the text. The verbiage used reads easily for university students and it appears to be uniform throughout the text.
Cultural Relevance rating: 5
The text is not culturally insensitive, even in its discussion of discrimination, labour, and employment law.
This is an easily read book, with some parts that can be easily adapted to a class on entrepreneurship, but with other parts that are simply a rehashing of basic business law, which may render the text unusable in may entrepreneurship courses where business law is a core requirement for a degree. The chapters that are short and basic in coverage, with a good balance of legalese and English grammar; simple and understandable. Consistently written and laid out, instructors need to determine the background of their students before choosing this text, as the materials may be too repetitive for many students.
Law for Entrepreneurs is an up-to-date textbook that covers the broad spectrum of legal issues that entrepreneurs must understand when starting and running a business. The text is organized to permit instructors to tailor the materials to their particular approach. The authors take special care to engage students by relating law to everyday events with their clear, concise and readable style.
After introductory chapters covering the legal environment of business, Law for Entrepreneurs provides students with context and essential legal concepts relating to contracts, product liability, intellectual property, insurance, agency law, partnerships, corporations, and employment law. The text provides the vocabulary and legal savvy that entrepreneurs need to talk in an educated way to customers, suppliers, employees, creditors, shareholders, government regulators and other stakeholders — and to their own lawyers.
Don Mayer now teaches law, ethics, public policy, and sustainability at the Daniels College of Business, University of Denver, where he is Professor in Residence. His research focuses on the role of business in creating a more just, sustainable, peaceful and productive world. With James O'Toole, Professor Mayer has co-edited and contributed content to Good Business: Exercising Effective & Ethical Leadership (Routledge: Taylor and Francis, 2010). He is also co-author of International Business Law: Cases and Materials, in its 5th edition with Pearson Publishing Co. He recently served as the first Arsht Visiting Ethics Scholar at the University of Miami. After attending Kenyon College (philosophy) and Duke University Law School, Professor Mayer served as a "JAG officer" with the United States Air Force during the Vietnam conflict, and went to private practice in North Carolina. He went to Washington D.C. in 1984 to attend Georgetown University Law Center, where he earned his LL.M. in International and Comparative law in 1985. He began an academic career in 1985 at Western Carolina University, and was a full professor at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan for many years before coming to the University of Denver. He has taught as a visitor at California State Polytechnic University, the University of Michigan, the Manchester Business School Worldwide, and Antwerp Management School. Professor Mayer has won numerous awards from the Academy of Legal Studies in Business, including the Hoeber Award for best article in the American Business Law Journal, twice won the Maurer Award for best article on business ethics, and three times won the Ralph Bunch Award for best article on international business law. His work has been published in many journals and law reviews, but most often in American Business Law Journal, the Journal of Business Ethics, and the Business Ethics Quarterly.
Daniel Warner is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Washington, where-- following military service--he also attended law school. After some years of civil practice, he joined the faculty at the College of Business and Economics at Western Washington University in 1978 where he is now a professor of business legal studies in the Accounting Department. He has published extensively exploring the intersection of popular culture and the law, for which publications he has five times received the College of Business Dean's Research Award for "distinguished contributions in published research." He served eight years on the Whatcom County Council, two years as its Chair. He has served on the Faculty Senate, on various university and college committees including chairman of the University Master Plan Committee; he has been active in state Bar Association committee work and in local politics, where he has served on numerous boards and commissions over 30 years.
George J. Siedel's research addresses legal issues that relate to international business law, negotiation, and dispute resolution. Recent publications focus on proactive law and the use of law to gain competitive advantage. His work in progress includes research on the impact of litigation on large corporations and the use of electronic communication as evidence in litigation. Professor Siedel has been admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court and in Michigan, Ohio, and Florida. Following graduation from law school, he worked as an attorney in a professional corporation. He has also served on several boards of directors and as Associate Dean of the University of Michigan Business School. The author of numerous books and articles, Professor Siedel has received several research awards, including the Faculty Recognition Award from the University of Michigan and the following awards from the Academy of Legal Studies in Business: the Hoeber Award, the Ralph Bunche Award and the Maurer Award. The Center for International Business Education and Research selected a case written by Professor Siedel for its annual International Case Writing Award. His research has been cited by appellate courts in the United States and abroad, including the High Court of Australia. Professor Siedel has served as Visiting Professor of Business Law at Stanford University, Visiting Professor of Business Administration at Harvard University, and Parsons Fellow at the University of Sydney. He has been elected a Visiting Fellow at Cambridge University's Wolfson College and a Life Fellow of the Michigan State Bar Foundation. As a Fulbright Scholar, Professor Siedel held a Distinguished Chair in the Humanities and Social Sciences.
Jethro K. Lieberman is professor of law and VP for Academic Publishing at New York Law School, where he has taught for more than a quarter century. He took his B.A. in politics and economics from Yale University, his J.D. from Harvard Law School, and his Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University. He began his teaching career at Fordham University Law School and before that was VP at what is now the CPR International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution. For nearly ten years he was Legal Affairs Editor of Business Week Magazine. He practiced antitrust and trade regulation law at a large Washington law firm and was on active duty as a member of the Navy’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps during the Vietnam era. He is the author of The Litigious Society (Basic Books), winner of the American Bar Association’s top literary prize, the Silver Gavel, and also of A Practical Companion to the Constitution: How the Supreme Court Has Ruled on Issues from Abortion to Zoning (University of California Press), among many other books. He is a long-time letterpress printer and proprietor of The Press at James Pond, a private press, and owner of the historic Kelmscott- Goudy Press, an Albion hand press that was used to print the Kelmscott Press edition of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales in the 1890s.
