Unique Components of the JD/LLM in Law & Entrepreneurship
The JD/LLM in Law and Entrepreneurship integrates a robust business curriculum with practical legal experience, preparing graduates to hit the ground running. There is no other dual degree of its kind in the United States.
These unique components help prepare students to practice in multiple areas, including transactional, corporate, and litigation, with next generation businesses and startups.
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 visited New York City.
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).
Working in the Start-Up Ventures Clinic was an extremely valuable part of my education at Duke Law. It was the perfect complement to my more traditional coursework because it provided me the opportunity to gain practical, hands-on experience with real startups while still in school.
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."
Read more.
Meredith Thompson, JD/LLM in Law & Entrepreneurship '21
Associate at McKinsey & Company
Program in Law and Entrepreneurship
Duke University School of Law
210 Science Drive
Duke Box 90360
Durham NC 27708-0360
phone: (919) 613-7259
fax: (919) 613-7231
llmle@law.duke.edu