Finding Meaning in Our Scholarly Efforts: A Perspective on Research and Teaching Synergies

Business law faculty enjoy the privilege to engage in scholarly activities with a practical bent. As business law faculty learn from their reading, thinking, and writing, they can share this learning with their students. Many of these students will earn leadership positions with direct influence on business practices. When scholarship nudges the ideas of other teachers, and they impart those ideas in their classrooms, the synergy between research and teaching and its societal effects enjoys a ripple effect. In short, business law faculty have an opportunity to contribute to society in a meaningful way through teaching, and the teaching improves through their scholarship. This essay reflects on a 33-year career as a legal studies professor--11 at the University of Maryland and 22 at the University of Oklahoma. During that time, that author has addressed two scholarly themes. At Maryland, he used the unconscionability doctrine to explore his fascination with legal philosophy, with a particular emphasis on economic analysis of law (EAL), critical legal studies (CLS), and legal pragmatism. With the move to Oklahoma, his scholarly work shifted to exploring the normative duty to obey law in a business context. Within the corporate social responsibility literature, this duty to obey law, which is highly nuanced and of central importance, is typically assumed away without analysis. Recent scholarship on corporate legal strategy and corporate compliance typically takes a similar tact, largely ignoring the issue of corporate political obligation. This scholarly void provides an opportunity to do some seminal thinking and, more importantly, to offer something meaningful to his students and to nudge the ideas of other scholar-teachers who can then affect their students. Following an introduction, this essay proceeds in two parts followed by a brief conclusion. Part II illustrates how scholarly work in legal philosophy can impact classroom teaching. Part III offers a reflection on living a scholarly life. Too often, legal studies professors may feel that their work is not read, when read, not understood, and when understood, not effective. Yet, hope remains. Research has synergies in the classroom, and this gives meaning to scholarly efforts.