New Ventures and Entrepreneurship Certificate

Program Code: LAW2-NVE-C
Degree Designation: Certificate
Department: School of Law
Website: law.duke.edu/internat/certificate

Program Summary

Certificate programs allow LLM students to further refine their research and career focus by maximizing their exposure to outstanding courses and instructors in their fields of interest.

Duke Law School has long been known for the breadth of its research, scholarship, and teaching at the intersection of innovation, entrepreneurship, and business law. Lawyers serving clients and companies can be counselors, policy advocates, entrepreneurs, corporate leaders, or sometimes all at once. Whatever their role, they require a comprehensive understanding of multiple areas of law and policy — business, intellectual property, and privacy law, to name a few — as well as practical legal skills such as contract drafting, corporate counseling and communication, negotiation, and deal skills. The New Ventures and Entrepreneurship Certificate capitalizes on the strengths of the Duke Law Curriculum in all these areas and prepares students for careers in the technology, science, and innovation sectors of the global economy.

Academic Requirements

• 24 credits in law, with a 2.5 minimum grade point average

• A substantial research paper on a topic related to the substance of the certificate program (complete 1)

  • LAW 525  Artificial Intelligence Law and Policy

  • LAW 549  Corporate Counseling and Communication

  • LAW 592  Frontier AI & Robotics: Law and Ethics

• A total of 12 academic credits in the following:

  • At least two core entrepreneurial courses

    • LAW 203  Business Strategy for Lawyers

    • LAW 210  Business Associations

    • LAW 270  Intellectual Property

    • LAW 325  Corporate Finance

    • LAW 369  Patent Law and Policy

    • LAW 540  Startup Law: Representing the Company

  • At least one elective

  • At least one of the following experiential offerings

    • LAW 460  Negotiation for Lawyers

    • LAW 519  Contract Drafting

    • LAW 515  Contract Drafting for the Finance Lawyer

    • LAW 549  Corporate Counseling and Communication

    • LAW 777  Deal Skills for the Transactional Lawyer

    • LAW 596  Practicing Law with AI and Big Data

    • LAW 441  Start-Up Ventures Clinic

    • LAW 427  Community Enterprise Clinic

    • LAW 621  Externship