About Engineering Law - SE 400
(previously GE 400)
Engineering Law provides soon-to-be engineers with an introductory understanding of the legal framework under which they will work. That is, all engineering is performed under the constraints imposed by our society’s laws and must take those laws into account.
The course has been designed with the following goals in mind:
1) Give students a greater understanding of their and their company’s position relative to the law so that they can act and talk more intelligently on the subject and be a better asset for their company.
2) Highlight a few areas that often trip up people in industry so that students can avoid the pitfalls or raise a concern if their company seems like it might have some exposure.
3) Help students know when their company has a potential or actual legal problem and should call a lawyer.
Please note that this is merely an introductory class. This class will not make you a lawyer. You are advised to seek legal representation if and when you or your company encounters a legal issue.
Substantively, the class is divided into three sections:
1) Basics of the legal system including sources of law and enforcing laws and
agreements in court,
2) Contracts and Torts, and
3) Intellectual Property.
The course has been designed with the following goals in mind:
1) Give students a greater understanding of their and their company’s position relative to the law so that they can act and talk more intelligently on the subject and be a better asset for their company.
2) Highlight a few areas that often trip up people in industry so that students can avoid the pitfalls or raise a concern if their company seems like it might have some exposure.
3) Help students know when their company has a potential or actual legal problem and should call a lawyer.
Please note that this is merely an introductory class. This class will not make you a lawyer. You are advised to seek legal representation if and when you or your company encounters a legal issue.
Substantively, the class is divided into three sections:
1) Basics of the legal system including sources of law and enforcing laws and
agreements in court,
2) Contracts and Torts, and
3) Intellectual Property.
Student Comment Excerpts
- Overall Comments
Summary Of Main Positives Cited By Students
- Real world applicability
- Fair grading
- The Instructor's Knowledge, Enthusiasm, and Vocal Delivery
Items To Review Cited By Students
The main thing that some students cited as less preferred was the longer class time - they would prefer to break it into two days, but understand the scheduling constraints with my travel from Chicago. I was also impressed by the student suggestions for additional class activities. How many classes have students requesting more homework? Some other suggestions for class participation activities were really great and I wish that we had more time to do them!
Course Materials
Students enjoyed the Lectures and supplemental materials on the website. With regard to the Gayton book, there are two schools of thought. On one side, some students coming into the class have a great deal of background on the U.S. legal system and may have a lessened need for the book. For example, some students took classes on the U.S. legal system in both high school and college and thus may find a significant portion of the book to be cumulative. However, other students, such as those coming straight to the University from a foreign country, typically have very little background on the U.S. legal system and can use all the help that they can get. These students also may be more comfortable with written English rather than spoken English. A number of these students have commented that they found the book to be of great use. Overall, I believe that almost all students can benefit at least somewhat from the book - and the less the student already knows, the greater the benefit. However, the book is but one tool to help student learning and students should make their own decisions with regard to whether to acquire it.
Tech Elective Credit Outside GE/IE
SE 400 counts as a technical elective in GE/IE, but does not count as a technical elective for at least some other engineering majors. Several non-GE/IE students expressed their desire to have that changed. I looked into this and communicated with a non-GE/IE department to initiate a dialog. However, although the department recognized the usefulness of the course for an engineering career, they were reluctant to count it as "technical" and thus were reluctant to add it as one of their technical electives. In a larger sense, the college of engineering may wish to consider adding a few practical career-building courses like SE400 to some sort of required course list for engineers.
Update: As of September 2017, I have been informed that SE400 counts as a tech elective for Materials Science - but please confirm with your department before enrolling.
Honors and Recognition
SE400 routinely appears on the University's List Of Teachers Ranked As Excellent By Their Students with a ranking of "Outstanding", which is given to the top 10% of instructors. Additionally, I was especially flattered and humbled to be awarded the 2012 Alpha Pi Mu & Gamma Epsilon Excellence in Teaching Award (Industrial Engineering and General Engineering student honor societies), the 2016 Industrial and Systems Engineering Department Head Teaching Award, and the 2021 Industrial and Systems Engineering Department Head Teaching Award. Additionally, in 2022, it was my great honor to be awarded the University of Illinois Campus-Level Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, which is presented by the Provost.
My deepest thanks to the student societies, their executive boards, and members, the ISE and TEC Departments and their Department Heads, the College of Engineering, University of Illinois, and all of my students past and present. Thank you for the Awards and I will strive to continue to be worthy of them!
Thanks again for all of your comments! Here are some actual student comments:
- I wanted to personally thank you for the time you spent in this class ... I think you should be made aware that of the nearly 130 credit hours I have taken, this class stands far and above any other. I really enjoyed learning from you.
- I enjoyed your class immensely and learned a lot of interesting (and very applicable to real life) things
- Thanks a lot for the wonderful class. It was the best course I have taken so far here. Thanks a lot.
- I learned so much from your class. I feel like I have such a better understanding of the rights I hold and I feel I have the necessary skills to comply with the law as an engineer (or, at the very least, know when I should ask for help regarding the lawful thing to do on the job).
- Vocal presentation was great! He also kept our attention which is hard to do with all these damn smartphones.
- It all lawyers were like Prof. Barich, they wouldn't have such a bad reputation.
- Extremely engaging to listen to. You're able to turn potentially very dry information into material I want to learn.
- Arguably the best class I've ever taken. No prior experience w/law now greatly appreciate it. Awesome lectures.
- By far the greatest professor I have every had. Period.
- This class rocks socks. I looked forward to it the most.
- No complaints. Amazing professor.
- Honestly, taking this class was one of the best decisions I've made. Very helpful and extremely interesting. Thank you!
- The course is great. One of my favorite courses taken at UIUC
- I think this was the first time I was confident in filling each bubble pertaining to excellence. You are an excellent teacher and I thoroughly enjoyed this class. Making yourself accessible to students and allowing us to open up in class and attempt to argue a question was fun and different. I appreciate all your hard work. Thank you.
- I am a huge fan. One of the best classes I have taken on campus. [Note:This was accompanied by a drawings of an electric fan. LOL!]
- Phenomenal professor. Very engaging, good delivery, useful information. Would highly recommend course to future engineers. Very impressed.
- Good presenter, funny, good attitude toward questions and students.
- Well organized. Super informative. Grooms you into a more responsible engineer.
- Great speaker, explains everything clearly, keeps students engaged, very funny! By FAR, best class I've taken in college. No weaknesses.
- Lectures were extremely beneficial, great examples that helped with understanding.
- He knew what was the common mental blocks for engineers trying to understand law.
- No weaknesses. You made the course engaging and kept my attention. I still hate the law, but I loved this course.
- Very good speaker that has the ability and enthusiasm to make a stereotypicaly "dry" subject very interesting. One of the best professors I have had.
- Enthusiastic, wants students to learn, prepared for class every time. Easy to understand, conveys information in a clear manner.
- More students should take this class!
- I think more students should know about this class. Whole college.
- Clear and effective lecturer. Most interesting and engaging course at the university. learned more in this class than any other. Thanks.
- [How to improve?] Make it so every engineering major has to take it.
- Very clear, had extensive knowledge of subject matter. I've never been in a class with so many nontrivial questions. This means students are engaged.
- Great class, very engaging and explanations were thorough. Would highly recommend to friends.
- Very good guy. Very specific. One of the best professors I've had in opening me up to the world around me.
- I really liked this course and have recommended it to a lot of others. I felt it was useful and I have a harder time staying awake in some of my 50 min classes than this one.
- One of the best instructors at the university. Incredibly knowledgeable on the topics and actually answered all questions. Took the time to go over exams, explain problems, and answered questions even if not fully relevant to the topic being taught. Excellent presentation and enthusiasm.
- Very enthusiastic, thorough, and comprehensive material presentation. Quite a lot of material learned without having to take coursework in actual law classes. Great thing to talk about on resume and during job interviews.
- [What was most beneficial to you?] Definitely the material that was specific to engineering career work was very helpful, such as the material regarding contracts and intellectual property.
- [T]hanks for a great semester. This was the most fair class I've ever been in and it really helps to create an environment for true learning as opposed to simply passing tests. Your teaching style and the overall structure of the class was a breath of fresh air in this engineering department. Thanks again.
- By far the best engineering professor I’ve had. Great content, awesome attitude and enthusiasm, and incredibly fair. Out of my entire GE curriculum, I think this has been the single most useful course I’ve taken. Keep up the good work! Your fairness and enthusiasm don’t go unnoticed.
- This was one of my favorite classes by far and a class that I thoroughly enjoyed and that is not something I say often about classes. I particularly enjoyed the stories you would share and your personal insights into the laws and structure of the US system. Thanks for a great class, it is surprisingly rare how few classes actually excite me as a student and the law certainly was able to do that.
- Can you teach all my classes?
- Thanks for teaching! You were Awesome!
- Best teacher yet, made me want to come to class. Really interesting! Loved the movie references. Great stories
- Strength: Keeps students interested with good presentation of the material
- Keeps interest up, great vocal delivery. Helpful in conflicts.
- Strengths – Makes it fun!
- Very clear presentation. I liked the jokes and humor.
- The FIRST class I’ve had where the professor truly inspires me to learn the material. Keeps my attention very well.
- Very good course organization, vocal delivery great. No weaknesses as a teacher, great job this semester.
- Very knowledgeable on the subject matter, well organized, willing to explain and stay after to help. Obviously enjoys teaching the material.
- Always engaging when speaking to the class.
- Great guy. Makes class enjoyable to attend.
- Animated, intelligent, relevant.
- Excellent teacher! Enthusiastic, brilliant, funny, and experienced. Made this the best class of the semester.
- Very knowledgeable, engaging, and enthusiastic.
- Very good lecturer. Handouts very helpful. Great course!
- Barich is one of the best lecturers on campus.
- Man, you are just awesome.
- Strengths: Excellent job, presented material well, enthusiastic, very knowledgeable.
- He cares a lot about teaching well. He wants feedback and is willing to change for the better.
- Best Professor I have ever had. No weakness.
- Barich was a pleasure to have as a teacher. Very interesting and fun, and was always happy to stimulate extra learning and knowledge.
- I learned a lot and I really feel I will use this knowledge later in life.
- I think every Engineering student should take this course, it is real-world knowledge that I’m so happy to know.
- Excellent survey into variety of law and business topics. I will use this knowledge.
- Taught us not to do stupid things when it comes to contracts.
- Legal Basics that could help you out big time in the Future
- Instructor was very enthusiastic/passionate towards material which was very beneficial in learning.
- Very useful class for engineers.
- Great lectures. Really learned a lot.
- Best course I’ve taken at U of I. First course I’ve taken where I will actually use what I learned
- Course is pretty much perfect.
- Lectures were very interesting and engaging. More importantly I learned a lot about law
- Barich used current examples of law issues/cases when explaining the material. Also, going over all the quiz answers helped drive the concepts home.
- Class was very interesting and the professor did a great job relating the material to the experience/understanding of engineering students.
- The professor focused more on teaching us than grading us. Thank you!
- I like that you learn a lot in this course in a little time, without it being overly rigorous. You adopt a new perspective. I like that we are very encouraged to participate and ask questions.
- Real-world legal knowledge essential at workplace.
- Very good at explaining topics and answering questions. Very fair quiz questions that probe your knowledge on topics and make you think. One of the best professors I've had here.
- It was terrific to take a class that applies to things I'll encounter daily that weren't purely from a technical standpoint. We don't get taught about contracts but we do get taught a lot about things we don't encounter often.
- Extremely engaging. I want Barich to teach all of my courses.
- [Most Beneficial to you?] IP law, relation to how engineers will actually use law.
- Real life help for my future. It was applicable, not just a class.
- Allowing us to challenge the questions was extremely helpful in learning the material.
- Prof. Barich was terrific. Highly enjoyed this class. Would recommend to everyone. First time I've had a professor even mention the non-technical aspects that would make someone a good engineer/employee, and Prof. Barich consistently brought his lectures back to those points. I would take his other classes if I weren't graduating.
- On a separate note, I wanted to get in writing that SE 400 was one of the most (if not the most) important class I have taken at this university (and I've been around for 5 years). I learned so, so much and believe this course should be required, if not, a convenient elective necessary for graduation. As an ECE major, a lot of my other classes in perspective don't really impact me in the real world as this class has. While it may be important to know how to solve a circuit in a couple of micro-applications, law is absolutely everywhere and this course has propelled me to have a pretty decent grasp on it.
- I'd also like to comment on your teaching style. When I went into this class, I was expecting some monotone gibrone but your personality absolutely captivated the class and made a "boring sounding class" an absolute blast. Keep it up prof Barich! You're a hilarious guy who really, really knows his stuff and has an absolute passion for conveying that knowledge.
- I want to thank you for all the effort you put into teaching SE 400 this semester. I learned quite a lot and feel that I will carry this information with me throughout my career.
- Thank you so much for the class! The material was really enjoyable and I feel like I will be a more accomplished engineer now. Although the lectures were 2.5 hours long, you always got my attention by making the class intriguing. Of all the crazys these last few semesters brought, engineering law was a silver lining.
- Thanks for making law fun! Have a good one
- Thanks Professor Barich! I enjoyed the class very much.
- Thanks for the semester, loved the class!
- Thank you so much for such an amazing class! In my 5 years here this has been the most interesting class that I have taken where I actually wanted to go out on my own and learn more. I will definitely be recommending people take this course. Take care! :)
- Thanks for the class, it was by far the most entertaining class I had
- I just finished your class, and I wanted to reach out to tell you how much I enjoyed it. The class had the potential to be very dry, but your energetic presentations somehow made even pre-recorded lectures the most engaging ones I have ever seen at this university. I can tell that you put a lot of effort and care into this class, and I wanted to thank you for an incredible experience. Your class has fundamentally changed the way I think about law and government, and I have highly recommended it to all of my friends.
- Thank you for a great semester. I was recommended to take this class and I'm glad that I was.The information I learned in this class will stay with me through my internship and co-op the next 6 months and far into the future to hopefully give that upper hand you mentioned throughout the year. For that reason, I want to thank you for the enthusiasm in your lectures as that kept me entertained and waiting to learn.
- I just wanted to tell you thank you for a great semester. I thoroughly enjoyed the lectures and am very fortunate to have had you as an instructor. These topics can get quite boring, but through your teaching style, side-stories, and hypotheticals, you made sure each class was interesting. I also appreciate your answers to all my questions during the discussion sections and all the additional insight you offered me regarding patent law as a career. I feel much more confident as an engineer with this class under my belt, which is a testament to your effectiveness as an instructor. Getting a 100 on the last exam was pretty cool too :)
- Prof. Barich did a great job in keeping everyone engaged with connecting course material to real life examples. The class was paced well and questions were encouraged.
- Extremely knowledgeable
- Joe Barich is an amazing lecturer and made one hell of a course. This man knew the answers to anything that was ever asked of him, at least while I was present, and was always extremely helpful. Very easy to talk to, funny, and non-intimidating. This is the first course I took in a while where I feel I learned very important information and actually retained it. Also, he was somehow able to keep me engaged throughout 2 hour lectures on patent law and government agencies. If that isnt impressive, I dont know what is. 10/10 I have recommended this course to like 15 people already.
- The professor is great, he is very knowledgeable and witty, makes for an enjoyable class. I wish I had him in person so that I could have met and interacted with him in person.
- Professor Barich is one of the most skilled professors I have ever encountered. His skill at teaching was such that he was able to take incredibly dry material in pre-recorded lecture videos and present it in the most engaging lectures I have ever seen at this university. His presentations were incredibly nuanced and informative, and his class fundamentally changed my view of law and government. I would suggest that this course be mandatory for all engineers at this university.
- He definitely knew what he talked about and put in a way that was easily understand. He also provided a plethora of materials to do further studies past the scope of the class.
- Loved this class. Took it because I heard it was an interesting and easy course. I learned way more than I thought I would, and I really enjoyed the material.
- Barich loves his job and the topic and that is clearly reflected in his teaching. Uses real world applications and wants all his students to excel and learn these topics so they can apply to their careers.
- He is an amazing lecturer and his exams/quizzes fit the material very well.
- Engaging delivery of course content. Brings in real life examples of topics discussed. Asynchronous timeline of watching lectures and taking quizzes was actually very nice. The ability to watch lectures as many times as possible, or pause and take notes, was very helpful.
- Fun and interesting class. Enjoyed going over real-life examples of patents, lawsuits, trademarks. I felt that the exams and quizzes were a good reflection of the class material.
- The instructor is vocal, clear, organized, and very friendly. I want him in more classes
- Very interesting class
- Great communicator. Professor Barich makes the material fun and enjoyable to learn. He really emphasizes the key take aways in fun manners that will stick with us for life.
- Makes class enjoyable and engaging, gives relevant life examples and makes sure students understand the material.