Robert -

My initial reaction was the same as John's. As delivered to the list, the question comes across as naive or even stupid. But viewing legal knowledge as a mere mistake preventative ignores the powerful potential of legal understanding to add positive value. Maybe your colleagues would benefit from a personal copy of George Seidel's article, Using Proactive Law for Competitive Advantage. See http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1664561.  

That said, it would be interesting to know the extent to which empirical data "support the presence of a robust job market (and salary) for MBA’s with ____ training." (Fill in the blank with any one of a multitude of other topics typically covered in MBA programs.) Taken literally, this question should be pretty easy to answer with respect to business law because most MBA programs require some mix of "legal, regulatory, and CSR" training. If MBA graduates get "good" jobs, case closed. But I think the Proactive Law argument is more compelling.

Kurt S. Schulzke, JD, CPA, CFE 
Associate Professor of Accounting & Business Law 
Director - Law, Ethics & Regulation 
Corporate Governance Center 
Kennesaw State University 
+ 1770-423-6379 (O) 
+ 1404-861-5729 (C) 
http://coles.kennesaw.edu/centers/corporate-governance/ 
My research: http://ssrn.com/author=804023 

----- Original Message -----
From: "John Allison" <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Friday, November 15, 2013 12:36:28 PM
Subject: Re: MBA market for regulatory-compliance-CSR jobs




That’s pretty stupid, isn’t it? How do you quantify the value of knowledge that might once prevent a former student from making a mistake that could cost the employer several million dollars? Companies don’t hire non-lawyers specifically for that knowledge, but such knowledge can help an employee avoid costly mistakes out of ignorance or help remove an illusion about legal rights and responsibilities that would otherwise exist. 



But I guess you have no choice, and I don’t know how to do it. 



John 




John R. Allison 

The Spence Centennial Professor of Business, and 

Professor of Intellectual Property 

McCombs School of Business 

University of Texas at Austin 

[log in to unmask] 





From: Academy of Legal Studies in Business (ALSB) Talk [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Robert Bird 
Sent: Friday, November 15, 2013 11:24 AM 
To: [log in to unmask] 
Subject: MBA market for regulatory-compliance-CSR jobs 



Our full-time MBA program is undergoing a revision. We have been asked to provide data in support of the market for jobs arising from skills obtained in business law classes. 



Does anyone have information that supports the presence of a robust job market (and salary) for MBA’s with legal, regulatory, and CSR training? We want to show that students to take business law classes will have skills that are in demand by the market. 



Best, 



Robert 



Robert C. Bird 

Associate Professor of Business Law, School of Business 

Northeast Utilities Chair in Business Ethics 

Research Fellow, School of Law 

University of Connecticut 

2100 Hillside Road, Unit 1041, Storrs, CT 06269 

[log in to unmask] 

My research: http://ssrn.com/author=56987