Companies operate in a constantly shifting regulatory environment and require business professionals with legal expertise to review, rewrite and deploy internal policies that comply with a patchwork of international, federal, state and local rules.
Career tracks for professionals with advanced business degrees extend beyond the corporate counsel’s office, such as roles exploring the regulatory impact on the digital technologies that drive most business operations.
Indeed.com includes leadership and management roles such as financial analyst, human resources manager, employee relations manager, compliance officer and policy officer in its top 10 business roles requiring foundational legal expertise.
“The legal market is thriving. Added regulations, economic growth, advances in technology, and increasing caseloads have all fueled the demand for a growing range of talented law professionals,” according to The Balance Careers.
Understanding current and evolving regulations, trends and legal issues can better prepare you for a career in business law.
What Are Emerging Regulatory Issues?
Paychex, a benefits and compliance consultant, predicts that the regulatory fallout of government COVID-19 mandates, greater reliance on doing business in cyberspace and a slew of human relations issues will soon dominate the compliance space. Its top 10 issues include the following:
COVID-19
Ongoing turmoil over government mandates and restrictions ranks as the top regulatory issue. Federal agencies and state governments that regard COVID-19 as an imminent threat to public health are relaxing but not eliminating some policies believed to be effective in controlling the spread of the virus. They also are ceding authority for those policies to counties. In addition, at the federal level, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s vaccine mandate overturned by the U.S. Supreme is under appeal, creating uncertainty.
Cybersecurity
Federal regulators are working on rules to protect the digital infrastructure. Legislatures in 45 of the 50 states also are considering cybersecurity legislation that, among other things, could mandate training, reporting of data and system breaches and insurance against financial damages resulting from intrusion. Companies will also likely develop internal rules and policies to ensure vendors and customers have effective cybersecurity programs to prevent attacks coming in via connected third parties.
Pay Equity
Federal regulators are developing rules to hold businesses accountable for balancing perceived differences in earning power between men and women. State and local regulations and statutes are coming online in starts and stops, adding uncertainty to the emerging patchwork of rules. Washington state, for instance, now requires companies to include wage and salary scales and outlines of all benefits and other companies on every job posting. Some states allow companies to have salary histories on job applications, while others ban this practice.
Worker Classification
The Trump administration simplified rules for classifying workers as independent contractors, and the Biden administration immediately withdrew the reform. Lawsuits and proposed ballot initiatives at lower levels of government further aggravate the back-and-forth at the federal level. Again, the regulatory and legal turmoil will challenge businesses to comply with wage and tax laws, benefits regulations and penalties for failing to classify workers properly.
Marijuana
Thirty-eight states and Washington D.C. have passed medical marijuana laws, and five others have legalized using CBD oil for medical purposes. In addition, 19 states and D.C. have legalized the recreational use of marijuana, putting a regulatory and legal burden on businesses that must balance risk-mitigation and drug testing policies against accommodations for legal use of pot.
Overall, The Heritage Foundation found federal regulators are working on 2,678 “active” actions, about 200 of which are “economically significant” because each will have an estimated annual effect of at least $100 million on the economy. “Just the paperwork burden of red tape currently totals 10.6 billion hours annually,” according to the public policy think tank.
How Do Business Professionals Acquire Expertise to Manage Regulatory Compliance?
The online MBA with a focus in Legal Studies program offered by Northern Kentucky University equips graduates with insights and expertise to bridge the gap between business operations and legal and regulatory compliance.
The legal studies focus explores the impact of law and regulation on forward-looking topics such as:
- The internet and mobile technologies, including blockchain technology, that offer secure channels to conduct and document activities like transactions and contracts.
- Big data, analytics and business intelligence, which are becoming the primary driver in operations across the enterprise, from human relations and administration to finance, production, production and marketing.
- Emerging technologies are transforming 21st-century commerce through machine learning and artificial intelligence, quantum computing, the Internet of Things and augmented and virtual reality.
- Start-up and entrepreneurial activity, which has its own set of legal and regulatory issues, including documentation, financing, public offerings and sales.
Northern Kentucky University’s online MBA with a focus in Legal Studies program can expand your knowledge of legal challenges. Combining this stack with one of the other available areas will boost career growth and give graduates more opportunities in the job market at the intersection of business and law.
Learn more about Northern Kentucky University’s online MBA program.
