Finally, a business law text for the business student, who is neither interested in nor willing to slog through a dense mini-law-school tome.
This text is written in a serious yet conversational style. It does not “talk at” or “talk down to” students, but instead walks students through key legal concerns in business—as if in a guided safari. Through this text students will learn—through relatable examples and visuals—how to recognize and address legal risks.
While conversational, this text is not skin-deep. It canvasses the two-millennia sweep of legal history from Ancient Greece & Rome through world empires to the U.S. Constitution and our current controversies.
Rather than an “info dump” of forgettable minutia—forgotten within minutes of the test—students instead internalize concepts of lasting value.
A text need not be deadly dull. Business Law: Navigating the Turbulent Realm of Commerce reaches Gen Z where they are, bringing to them a world of legal awareness to last their careers.
“The way the text was written made it very easy to read and I often found myself enjoying the process.”
“The textbook was amazing. It was great that it was interactive, asking questions throughout the chapters, making me read closely and carefully.”
“Great Course. Your textbook was awesome.”
“A textbook that is self-aware of how boring reading a textbook is made it one of the best classes I have taken in a while.”
“I really enjoyed the text for this class.”
“The text allowed itself to be extremely engaging and doesn't read like a regular textbook and allows for the content to flow at a smoother rate.”
“The tone, presentation, and phrasing in the text was rarely stale; entertaining analogies made complicated topics easy to understand. I wouldn't mind reading any textbook if they were stylized or had similar approaches as to this textbook.”
“The e-text was really easy to navigate and was interesting to read, because it presented several interesting real life examples for each concept.”
“I loved Professor Messinger’s class! Although I am not a business major, I really learned a lot in his class. I love how much he cares for us to succeed and the way he structured his textbook was brilliant! He really made it easy for us millennials to read a text that had cool visuals and analogies to help us better comprehend the material!”
“I enjoyed such an engaging professor who wrote such a wonderful textbook.”
“I enjoyed Professor Messinger's class! I absolutely love his writing style and that he makes boring text very fun to read and even though this class is entirely online, it's always lively and something I look forward to!”
“Professor, this was my favorite class. I enjoyed reading the textbook because I was actually learning something that I was interested in. I actually took quotes from the textbook and still remember them because I feel they are important.”
“I was apprehensive when I first saw that we used Messinger's textbook for his class, but it is a fun read and a great resource.”
“Loved the quiz system. Allowed for students to learn instead of just work for a grade.”
“I also did enjoy reading the book as well. Normally textbooks are just information stuffed into a book and can be overwhelming depending on the topic.”
“I really liked how our quizzes were online and based in the textbook, as this is what got me to actually read the textbook.”
“The textbook: It was written in a way that made complex topics easy to understand and was direct and efficient. It was written in a way that helped me remember the content rather than just try to memorize it.”
“The textbook had a format that was similar to a conversation meaning that it was like a person was talking to you instead of you reading a book, which was very interesting. It was very fun to take the information that I find interesting and apply them to the law.”
“Interesting intellectual class, I appreciated the transparency when it came to textbook. A 10/10”
Thane practiced corporate law with Kiefer, Oshima, Chun, Fong & Chung in Honolulu, later accepting a position as Court Counsel to the Kosrae Supreme Court. (Kosrae, about 2,000 miles west-southwest of Hawaii, is one of the four states of the Federated States of Micronesia.) He also served as Special Counsel to the Kosrae Constitutional Convention, held for two months in 1995. While in Micronesia, Thane taught two courses, Entrepreneurship and Financial Management, at the College of Micronesia. In addition, he wrote The Young Lawyer's Jungle Book: A Survival Guide, a law-practice manual for new attorneys.
Messinger holds an M.B.A. from Texas State University which was followed by a J.D. (Doctor of Jurisprudence) from the University of Texas at Austin, where he served as an editor for the Texas Law Review. Somewhere in the midst of these goings on, he studied at Mansfield College, Oxford University; at Tunghai University (in Taiwan); and at Harvard Law School (somewhere in the Nor’east).
Thane accepted the position as Director of Academic Affairs for the Central Massachusetts Campus of the University of Phoenix, where his tasks included training faculty for a new campus. In July of 2005 he accepted responsibility for Academic Affairs for all of the Massachusetts campuses, and in 2006 he led the Massachusetts campuses as Interim VP/Campus Director. In 2007, he earned a third graduate degree, in governance, from Harvard University.
Thane has taught at the University of Texas at Austin, the College of Micronesia, the University of Hawai‘i at West O‘ahu, the University of Phoenix (Hawaii, Massachusetts, and Online campuses), Park University, and the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (for whom he conducted an executive MBA seminar in Hanoi). He is published widely in legal education.