Entrepreneurship and Business Law LLM Program

Colorado Law enjoys gifted teachers in core business law subjects such as Corporations, Securities, Mergers & Acquisitions, and Taxation. Our permanent faculty has significant experience in the both the transactional and litigation practices of some of the country’s preeminent law firms. They also engage in cutting-edge research, which enriches their classroom teaching.

Students benefit from the law school’s particular focus on entrepreneurship. Boulder is the epicenter of one of the nation’s most dynamic startup regions. The Wall Street Journal reported Boulder as the number 1 city in the United States for startups followed by Fort Collins, which is less than 45 minutes away. Denver, only 30 minutes away, and two other cities within a two hour drive of Boulder, also placed in the top 10. The region abounds in startups in software, energy, aerospace, green technology, health care, telecom, bioscience, outdoor sports equipment, and food.

The law school is at the hub of the Boulder startup scene, with the Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship hosting weekly events for entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, technologists, and policymakers. Colorado Law’s innovative entrepreneurial law program lets students take advantage of all of these resources and connects them with a network of entrepreneurs, lawyers, and thinkers. Students benefit from the talented venture capitalists and startup lawyers who teach in our classrooms.

We seek to build students' “transactional IQ.” Our business law curriculum features an innovative approach to integrating traditional doctrinal and experiential learning. Students can take traditional courses, such as Securities Regulation or Mergers and Acquisitions. They can then take follow-on Deals Lab courses in these areas (such as Deals Lab: Securities or Deals Lab: M&A), in which students engage in extensive drafting, counseling, and negotiation simulations.

Further, Colorado Law students often engage with entrepreneurship programs offered across campus. For example, the Deming Center Venture Fund (DCVF)  provides an opportunity for law, engineering, and business graduate students to make angel investments into local companies. And the Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC) is the world’s largest venture capital competition with over 70 universities competing.

Students interested in policy can learn how to create the next innovation and startup hub like Boulder.

Learn more about the Entrepreneurial and Business Law program at Colorado Law.

Sample Courses:

 

Entrepreneurship & Business Law - LLM Quotes

Brad Bernthal

“Boulder has a world-class startup scene. What’s unique is that this startup community regularly convenes at the law school. If you want to meet entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and learn to use legal tools to help innovators, Colorado Law is the place to do it.”

Brad Bernthal
Associate Professor

Jason Mendelson

“Teaching the Venture Capital course at Colorado Law energizes me. Our program produces leaders in entrepreneurial law and the innovation community. And the law school serves the intellectual hub of Boulder’s startup community. We want more international scholars and students to join us in Boulder. International participants diversify and enrich our innovation ecosystem.”

Jason Mendelson
Managing Director, Foundry Group
Adjunct Professor

Erik Gerding

“Much of my eight years of law firm practice in New York and Washington, D.C. focused on cross-border transactions. I worked extensively with clients and local law firms in Asia, Latin America, and Europe. LLM students interested in transactional law need not only the bread-and-butter U.S. business law courses but the transactional IQ that our curriculum provides as well. Our students don’t just learn about court cases involving deals, they also learn how transactional lawyers put deals together.”

Erik F. Gerding
Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs