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In today’s highly regulated and over litigated business world it’s impossible to conduct business and not come into contact with the law. Every day hundreds, if not thousands, of business decisions are made throughout your organization. Some decisions are big. Some decisions are small. But regardless of size, they all impact the legal health of your organization in one way or another. Yet, many employees are often unaware of how their day-to-day decisions impact the bottom line because the legal implications are not immediately apparent. They lack legal literacy.

“I didn’t know that what I did made a difference,” said one manager when confronted with the legal consequences of his decision. He was too far removed from the lawsuit to appreciate the legal cause and effect of his work. The legal implications of his decisions were nuanced until they reach a critical mass or a tipping point and turn into a problem. By then it was too late.

In the post-Enron era good intentions and ethics have been heralded as the self-empowerment tools necessary for avoiding legal entanglements. But ethics alone can’t compensate for a basic understanding of how the law touches your business. They’re is no substitute for the legal ABCs of business: for legal literacy.

The purpose of this blog is to make visible the links between business and law. It uses current events and stories and to help you learn from other’s mistakes and raise awareness of the legal environment of business — how it can help you and how it can hurt you. The goal is to bridge the gap between these two disciplines to help you unleash the power of Legal Leverage®.

This blog is based on the book The Business Guide to Legal Literacy: What Every Manager Needs to Know About the Law (Jossey-Bass, 2006).  As the Wired GC wryly noted, “It’s cheaper than a lawsuit” and is available through your favorite bookseller, including Amazon in hardcopy or Kindle reader form.