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Business Law

Miami Herbert’s Department of Business Law delivers courses that prepare future managers to face the increasingly legal implications in daily operations and business policy.

Business law courses provide students with fundamental insights into legal institutions, the regulatory environment, and the nature of legal discourse, as well as an array of substantive principles of law, including such areas as contracts, sales, business organizations, and domestic and international commercial relationships. Students learn an appreciation for the social, ethical, economic, and political bases of law while developing effective decision-making skills within business. 

We seek to contribute to legal knowledge through scholarly research, disseminated by publication in leading journals and law reviews, and to transmit that knowledge to students and the larger university as well as to the business and professional communities. Our educational objectives allow us to instill in students a strong understanding of the legal and ethical issues permeating business and the regulatory environment.

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Ethics and Compliance

Hear about the School's business law classes and its focus on ethics and compliance from Anita Cava, professor of business law.
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Reshaping Securities Law

Business law faculty conduct cutting-edge research that shapes business practice and business law.
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Learn from the best

Meet Our Faculty

Ann Olazábal

Ann Olazábal

Department Chair, Business Law Professor, Business Law
Patricia Abril

Patricia Abril

Professor, Business Law
Anita Cava

Anita Cava

Professor, Business Law
Mark Shapiro Miami Herbert

Mark Shapiro

Professor of professional practice, Business Law
Shannon Derouselle

Shannon Derouselle

Lecturer, Business Law

Research, Teaching, and Service

The faculty in the Department of Business Law consistently publish in the top academic journals and law reviews, rivaling many of the most acclaimed business and commercial faculties in law schools nationwide. The department's current research areas include:

  • Privacy law
  • Intellectual property and business
  • Business ethics
  • Healthcare law and ethics
  • Real estate law and realtor regulation
  • Federal securities regulation

The Department of Business Law is the center for non-professional law and business ethics education at the University of Miami. Its required and elective course offerings are among the university’s most popular at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. The department is committed to excellence in teaching and instruction, and Business Law faculty consistently win the highest awards for teaching excellence offered by both the business school and the university.

Business Law faculty have expertise and teach in two major areas, which comprise numerous topics of interest to students:

  • Business Law involves contracts, corporate law and securities regulation, international commercial transactions, intellectual property,  employment law, negotiation and dispute resolution, and the legal issues surrounding such fields as technology, sports and entertainment, entrepreneurship, real estate, and health care.
  • Business Ethics examines 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 as well as through community engagement.
The department’s faculty contribute to Miami Herbert Business School, the University, and the local and national business communities in a variety of ways. Faculty serve as advisers for several student organizations, as members of numerous Miami Herbert and university committees and ad hoc task forces, and as elected and appointed members of school- and university-wide shared governance bodies. Members of the department regularly speak before local, national, and international organizations and are regularly called upon by the media to address pertinent Business Law topics. In addition, as individuals, Business Law faculty are involved in a wide range of philanthropic and charitable community efforts. All members of the department, whether full-time or adjunct, are current members, in good standing, of their state bar associations.