Entrepreneurial Law LLM

Making New Dealmakers

The Right Venture

Colorado Law's LLM in Entrepreneurial Law is one of the only LLM programs of its kind nationwide. The program provides the breadth and depth of expertise needed to expand an attorney's practice to serve emerging companies as both outside and in-house counsel. The competitive advantage of our Entrepreneurial Law LLM graduates is how they understand the needs of a growing business from both a legal and business perspective and can move a client's business forward in today's complicated and fast changing environment. Jumpstart your career with a degree that gives our graduates the legal expertise necessary to effectively counsel the innovative and "disruptive" companies of tomorrow.

• The Right Place: Colorado Law is surrounded by a vibrant start-up community, a premier research university, and seven federal laboratories. The Mile High Tech area between Boulder and Denver is a hotbed of entrepreneurial activity and is poised for tremendous growth. The area is home to many successful entrepreneurial companies in fields ranging from information and communications technologies to biotechnology to clean energy technology and renewable energy. Colorado Law is also home to the Silicon Flatirons Center, a nerve center for the start-up community. CU ranks 7th nationally in the number of companies created from its intellectual property. Researchers ranked Boulder as the highest performing small city for venture capital investment. Forbes named Boulder as the "Most Educated City in America" and Outside Magazine ranked Boulder No. 1 in "20 Dream Towns." Boulder was recently featured in the New York Times as a "magnet for high-tech start-ups" as well as in Fox Business News.
• The Right Time: Attorneys serving entrepreneurial companies practice law at fast pace. With entrepreneurs serving as an engine of innovation, and investments in start-up companies continuing through the recession, now is a strategic time to focus on entrepreneurship. Law firms and start-ups―now more than ever before―are looking for attorneys who understand a business' needs and are ready to hit the ground running. The LLM in Entrepreneurial Law is ideal for JD graduates looking to acquire the skills and connections necessary for a successful career in transactional and business law.
• The Right Curriculum: Courses focus upon critical aspects of transactional practice such as intellectual property, securities, deals and general corporate law. Expert faculty teach entrepreneurial building blocks and offer advanced courses such as legal negotiation and venture capital. Experiential learning opportunities through the Entrepreneurial Law Clinic provide real-world experience working with start-up clients, including company formation, drafting contracts, and the creation of intellectual property protection strategies. Cross-disciplinary courses through CU-Boulder's Leeds School of Business and College of Engineering and Applied Science provide expert instruction in other areas of business that the average attorney might lack, such as courses in finance, management, and the creation of business plans.

LLM Candidates

The LLM in Entrepreneurial Law is designed to train transactional attorneys to solve the diverse problems that entrepreneurial companies encounter. Colorado Law selects applicants who are U.S. law school graduates, as well as graduates of universities outside of the U.S. who hold a law degree or its equivalent in education or practical experience. The LLM benefits:

• JD graduates who want to concentrate on an entrepreneurial law curriculum
• JD graduates who want to broaden their business law training and networking
• Attorneys working in business law who want to have specialty credentials and improve marketability
• Attorneys not working in business law who want to break into that field or have cross-disciplinary skills 
• Government officials, attorneys, and corporate officers in countries other than the U.S. who want to learn abou the U.S. entrepreneurial sytem

Requirements and Curriculum

To earn the LLM in Entrepreneurial Law, students must complete 26 credit hours in entrepreneurship-related courses, including the capstone courses. International students will take two additional courses in the summer prior to beginning the LLM.

Courses

• Advanced Contracts: Commercial Transactions
• Agency, Partnership and the LLC
• Business Planning 
• Business Transactions
• Corporate Taxation
• Corporations*
• Counseling Families in Business
• Deals
• Employment Law
• International Business Transactions
• Intellectual Property and Technology Licensing
• Legal Negotiation
• Mergers, Acquisitions and Reorganizations
• Securities Litigation and Enforcement
• Securities Regulation
• Survey of Business Enterprise Taxation
• Taxation of Conduit Entities
• Venture Capital and Private Equity

Capstone Courses**

• Independent Legal Research (Students complete a substantial project related to entrepreneurship and law, suitable for publication)
• Entrepreneurial Law Clinic (Students provide free legal services to start-up companies in Colorado's Front Range)  
• Internship (Work for select mentors at local companies and firms; more intensive internships may be substituted for the Entrepreneurial Law Clinic)

International Students***

• Introduction to the American Legal System
• Introduction to American Legal Research, Reasoning, and Writing

Not all courses are offered each semester
*Required course, if not previously taken
**Capstone courses completed during the summer
***Taken the summer before starting the LLM

Beyond Curriculum

• Colorado Law's Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship brings together legal, technical, and business experts to elevate the debate around policy issues, facilitate networking, and develop "human capital" in Colorado. Students have unique access to high-level attorneys, policy-makers, business executives, and entrepreneurs. Major entrepreneurship initiatives include:
  • The Annual Entrepreneurial Law Conference explores opportunities and challenges facing entrepreneurs and the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
  • New Technology Meet Ups feature the innovations of local start-ups and emerging companies, attracting more than 300 members of the local entrepreneurial community each month.
  • CU New Venture Challenge connects law, business, and engineering students in a cross-campus business plan competition.
  • Entrepreneur's Unplugged offers an intimate question and answer session with experienced entrepreneurs on a monthly basis.
  • Roundtable on Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Public Policy features informal discussions with academics, lawyers, investors, and entrepreneurs on issues ranging from private equity to software patents to social entrepreneurship. Students author policy reports based on these discussions.
  • Crash Courses provide the local start-up community with courses taught by entrepreneurs, investors, and faculty on issues ranging from marketing to intellectual property to fundraising.
• Additional University Resources: As one of the nation's leading teaching and research universities, CU has a number of research institutes and centers, which work in partnership with the Colorado Law faculty and students, including Robert H. and Beverly A. Deming Center for Entrepreneurship,Engineering and Entrepreneurship Program (E-ship), Interdisciplinary Telecommunications Program (IPT), Alliance for Technology, Learning, and Society Institute (ATLAS), Technology Transfer Office (TTO), Startup Colorado.
  

Faculty

Resident Faculty
J. Brad Bernthal: Entrepreneurial Law Clinic, Venture Capital and Private Equity
Alexia Brunet Marks: International Business Transactions
Victor Fleischer: Deals, Venture Capital and Private Equity
Wayne Gazur: Corporate Taxation, Survey of Business Enterprise Taxation
Mark Loewenstein: Agency, Partnership and the LLC, Corporations, Securities Litigation and Enforcement
Scott Moss: Employment Law
Paul Ohm: Copyright, Introduction to Intellectual Property 
Scott Peppet: Legal Negotiation, Counseling Families in Business
Amy Schmitz: Secured Transactions, Arbitration
Andrew Schwartz: Securities Regulation
Harry Surden: Patent Law, Introduction to Intellectual Property Law

Adjunct Faculty
Jason Haislmaier: Intellectual Property and Technology Licensing
Victoria Marschner: Taxation of Conduit Entities
Jason Mendelson: Venture Capital and Private Equity 
Trish Rogers: Mergers, Acquisitions and Reorganizations
Paul Washington: Business Planning

Work and Careers 

Colorado Law students and graduates have received internships or permanent employment at the following firms and organizations from 2004-2012: