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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

In order to receive the Certificate in New Ventures and Entrepreneurship, candidates must successfully complete the following 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

  • 12 academic credits in courses related to New Ventures and Entrepreneurship including:

    • Startup Law: Legal Considerations for Entrepreneurs and Counsel

    • One additional course from the following core courses:

      • Business Associations

      • Business Strategy for Lawyers

      • Intellectual Property

      • Patent Law & Policy

      • Corporate Finance

    • The remaining 5-6 credits in courses related to new ventures and entrepreneurship

    • Three of the 12 credits may be obtained from courses offered by the Fuqua School of Business or the Sanford School of Public Policy that are thematically connected to the certificate's subject matter.

Please note that enrollment in the Certificate does not guarantee enrollment in one or more of the foregoing courses; students will have the opportunity to drop the certificate before LLM graduation without penalty in the event they are not able to fulfill the academic requirements of the Certificate.

For more information, please contact Oleg Kobelev, Associate Dean for International Studies.

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