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After their first-year, dual degree students enroll in Entrepreneurship Immersion. After taking a fast-track academic course in Durham focused on advising entrepreneurial clients, students venture to a technology hub in the United States. In the past, students have visited Silicon Valley to meet with VCs, law firms with entrepreneurial practices, and Duke alumni serving as in-house counsel at startups and tech companies like Dropbox, Facebook, Google, TIDAL, and Square. Students also enjoy individual networking opportunities and attending a reception with local Duke Law alumni and faculty. Due to the pandemic in 2020 & 2021, students took a virtual trip using Zoom. In 2023, students will visit New York City.

Review all the degree requirements.

The Start-Up Ventures Clinic represents entrepreneurs and early-stage businesses and social ventures on a variety of matters related to the start-up process, including formation, founder equity and vesting, shareholder agreements, intellectual property protection and licensing agreements, commercialization strategies, and other issues that new enterprises face in their start-up phases. Students who enroll in the Start-Up Ventures Clinic and Advanced Start-Up Ventures Clinic courses are able to represent a range of early-stage ventures under the leadership of Director Bryan McGann (LLM in Law & Entrepreneurship, 2015).

Duke Innovation & Entrepreneurship offers coursework in collaboration with the Fuqua School of Business to help student entrepreneurs launch new ventures on interdisciplinary teams. Students enroll in team-based courses and gain access to a broad community of practitioners. From opportunity evaluation to strategy development to a business plan, students draw on faculty and business mentors and supporting roles.

JD/LLM in Law & Entrepreneurship students are permitted to take up to three classes outside of Duke Law, with permission from Academic Affairs. Review all graduate courses offered through Duke I&E. 

Students have completed externships and internships for course credit with organizations ranging from startups to law firms and investors, like Duke Capital Partners, formerly known as Duke Angel Network. 

"Through the JD/LLMLE program, I got connected with a health IT company in a Durham-based accelerator. The experience exposed me to interesting legal and business issues that emerging companies face on a practical level, and more importantly, introduced me to many of the really interesting folks in the impressive Triangle entrepreneurial community.”

Rose McKinley, JD/LLM in Law & Entrepreneurship ’17
Senior Counsel in Corporate and Securities at Unity Technologies

"Duke Angel Network exposed me to every aspect of the investment process, from deal sourcing to screening to diligence and beyond... This immersive experience taught me how to ask good questions and become knowledgeable on a company and an industry in short order. It taught me—and is still teaching me—what makes a company attractive to early-stage investors." 
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Meredith Thompson, JD/LLM in Law & Entrepreneurship '21
Associate at McKinsey & Company