A New Paradigm for the Teaching of Business Law and Legal Environment Classes

There is a need to develop curriculum and materials on law-related topics better designed for business students planning a career in business. Except incidentally, business school legal faculty are not teaching future lawyers or paralegals. The world of the business practitioner is very different from that of the lawyer. For most business people the law and lawyers are a necessary nuisance. Furthermore, the legal world is changing. For example, methods of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) have become mainstream. Opportunities for "self-help law" have proliferated. These trends, and other opportunities considered in this article, offer substantial benefits to the business community. To meet the needs of today's business person, college business law and legal environment courses must stress economical, intelligent prevention of legal problems and resolution of conflict . This article is about empowering future business managers by utilizing their class time to educate them to more directly meet these goals. Topical coverage and pedagogical approaches for implementing a new paradigm in a business school introductory law course are detailed. Faculty members should not allow fear of change to deter a needed overhauling of the curriculum, as such procrastination could harm the profession's future standing.     

Fair-trade coffee in Nicaragua and Tanzania: a comparison

Fair-trade activities in the South have tended to be studied in relation to the internal aims of the fair-trade organisations themselves. This article argues that it is also critical to consider the wider fair-trade ‘arena’ or set of interactions. The authors focus on Tanzania and Nicaragua and study the role of four key actors—small-scale producers, co-operatives, development partners, and public authorities. Using comparative data from field studies conducted in 2002–2003, the article identifies key national and international issues affecting local producers. Illustrating how fair trade evolves differently according to context, the article examines how the co-operative movement in Nicaragua has been strengthened by fair-trade production, in contrast to the situation in Tanzania. It concludes by discussing some of the challenges faced by fair trade, including how to reconcile the demands of the market with building solidarity.     

Egalitarian Opportunities

Law and Philosophy -     

La responsabilisation du patient dans un contexte de télésoins à domicile

Sommaire: La volonté de transformation du système de santé est propice à une recrudescence du discours public sur la responsabilisation du patient. Les technologies d'information et de communication (tic ) sont régulièrement envisagées comme moyens pouvant permettre au patient d'exercer un rôle accru dans la prise en charge des questions de santé. Ce texte vise à cerner le sens de la responsabilisation dans un contexte de télésoins à domicile. L‘étude d'un service de suivi à domicile met en lumière l'un des quatre paradigmes d'interprétation de la responsabilisation du patient: le paradigme professionnel qui est orienté vers l'habilitation en matière de santé. Par une double lecture représentant les approches sociologique et psychologique, cette étude montre les possibilités et les limites d'une technologie de télésoins à domicile par rapport à six principales variables: accès aux connaissances; développement d'une réflexion argumentée; influence sur l'action ou la décision; compétence perçue; contrôle perçu; et intériorisation des buts. Les résultats permettent d'observer le haut niveau d'exigence que représenterait une initiative visant l’émergence de patients informés et compétents. Surtout des patients “experts” dans une vision de la responsabilisation fondée sur la reconnaissance du caractère holistique des connaissances, du principe d'autonomie de pensée et du potentiel d'influence du patient sur une variété de décisions. En conclusion, sont précisées les implications qu'ont ces résultats sur la gestion du système public de santé. Abstract: The willingness to transform the health care system is conducive to a new wave of public discourse on patient empowerment. Information and communications technologies (ict ) are regularly considered as means that allow the patient to exercise increased control in addressing health issues. This text aims at examining this phenomenon within the tele‐homecare context. The study of a follow‐up home‐care service highlights one of the four paradigms of the interpretation of patient empowerment: the professional paradigm that is health empowerment‐oriented. By using both a sociological and a psychological approach, the study identifies the possibilities and limitations of tele‐homecare technology, based on six major variables: access to knowledge, development of critical thinking, personal impact on action or decision, perceived competency, perceived control, and internalization of goals. The results show the high level of requirements needed for an initiative that would produce informed, competent and, most importantly, “expert” patients according to a vision of empowerment based on the recognition of the holistic nature of knowledge, the principle of autonomous thinking, and the patient's potential impact on a variety of decisions. In conclusion, the article defines the implications of these results in terms of the management of the public health system.     

Exploring sentencing in three European cities

This research represents the results of a sentencing study conducted in three cities in Europe. The cities were chosen because they represent widely varying judicial philosophies. The question addressed is: do different formal legal attitudes impact sentencing behaviors? Data come from a randomly selected set of cases acquired from one judge in each of the three cities. The results indicate that, as in the United States, extra‐legal variable play a lesser role than legally relevant criteria in determining sentences. Contextual factors are also important as the models for explaining the variations in sentencing decisions change from city to city. This research continues the line of investigation which points to the need for a more thorough sample of sentencing decisions so that generalizations about the relationship between ideology and courtroom behavior can be made across countries.     

India's Grand Advocates: a legal elite flourishing in the era of globalization

This article examines a flourishing group of elite litigators, that we call ‘Grand Advocates’, who practice before the Indian Supreme Court and some of India's High Courts. In a court system marked by overwhelmed judges with little assistance, multiplicity and blurriness of precedent, and by the centrality of oral presentation, the skills and reputational capital of these lawyers enables them to play a central, lucrative, and unique role. Indeed, it is often the Grand Advocates, as much as the judges, who lead and propel forward the Indian judicial system.