News

Kip A. Frey ’85, an entrepreneur and visiting professor of the practice at Duke Law, has been named director of Duke’s Law and Entrepreneurship LLM (LLMLE) program.

Frey is president and CEO of EvoApp, a Durham company that helps businesses strengthen customer relationships and social media intelligence through complex data analytics. He has led and advised a number of entrepreneurial and venture-backed enterprises throughout his career. Since 2010, he has served as chair of the LLMLE advisory board, has taught classes through the program, and has helped coordinate practicum experiences for students. Frey also is as an adjunct professor at Duke’s Sanford School of Public Policy, where he teaches intellectual property law and policy courses.

“It is tremendously exciting for me to be involved in the LLMLE program at Duke,” Frey said. “It fills a distinct need in the business community, particularly as entrepreneurship becomes an increasingly important force in our economy. Lawyers who work with entrepreneurial companies need to be able to embrace risk, call upon deep knowledge of both the law and business, and find ways to move companies forward within a rapidly changing economic and regulatory landscape. This requires a specific blend of skills and experience that you really can’t get in any other law or business program.”

The one-year LLMLE program at Duke integrates coursework, work experience, and high-level networking opportunities to prepare lawyers to advise, create, and lead entrepreneurial companies. Courses are designed to help students develop a deep understanding of relevant legal and regulatory issues as well as the unique business demands that entrepreneurs face; a required, full-semester practicum allows students to put that knowledge to work within the leadership team of a local entrepreneurial company.

Through the year, an LLMLE student might work in a local entrepreneurial venture, advise a student team in Duke’s Startup Challenge, and conduct case studies of real-world problems presented by visiting scholars and practitioners.

Frey has already tapped his knowledge of the entrepreneurial landscape and connections within the startup community to assist LLMLE students in arranging their practicums. Students currently are working in practicums with companies around the Research Triangle and beyond, including Hatteras Venture Partners, Joystick Labs, Sciquest, Bandwidth.com, and CBC New Media Group.

“Professor Frey did a great job of matching me with a good practicum host,” said Karl Goodman LLMLE ’11, who served in a practicum with the Triangle Community Foundation and is now an associate with Morgan, Lewis & Bockius in New York. “He has connections all over North Carolina and listened closely to what I wanted out of my practicum.”

Prior to joining EvoApp, Frey was president and CEO of Zenph Sound Innovations. He has served as a partner at the venture capital firm Intersouth Partners and as the head of a variety of venture-backed companies. He served as executive vice president and general counsel of Ventana Communications Group, sold Ventana to the Thomson Corporation in 1994, and continued in an executive role at Thomson through 1997. He also has served as presi- dent of Accipiter, Inc., and as president and CEO of OpenSite Technologies, Inc.; each company sold for more than $500 million during his tenure. Frey has been honored by Digital South Magazine as the Southeast’s top entrepreneurial CEO and in 2000 received the Council for Entrepreneurial Development’s Entrepreneurial Excellence Award.

Frey practiced intellectual property law for five years before joining Turner Broadcasting System in 1990 as associate general counsel. While at Turner he ran several business units and contributed to the acquisition of Castle Rock Entertainment, the formation of the Cartoon Network, and the construction of the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino. In addition to his Duke Law degree, he holds a bachelor’s degree in cinema from the University of Southern California.

“Kip brings an entrepreneur’s creativity, passion and vision to our LLMLE program,” said Duke Law Dean David F. Levi. “He is in a great position to help our students and our school develop and deepen connections to entrepreneurial ventures. His legal and business skills and experience, as well as his leadership in the Triangle’s entrepreneurial community, present a great opportunity to move this program forward.”