By Dan Linna (@DanLinna) & Evan Goldberg (@evanmgoldberg)
Each of the last several years, teams of Northwestern JD, LLM, and Master of Science in Law (MSL) students have spent Spring Break in Silicon Valley studying innovation, technology, and law. This year, ten MSL students and one JD student have made the trip to San Francisco for the Entrepreneurship Team Project (EnTP) class.
The class, taught this year by Professor Dan Linna, includes visits with emerging startups, law firms, legal technology leaders, and some of the world’s largest companies. Linna, Professor Leslie Oster, Director of the MSL program, and Evan Goldberg, Director of the MSL program’s external outreach efforts, coordinated the trip and will accompany the student teams.
We will document the EnTP trip on social media, including Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and the MSL blog. A component of our classroom work included developing a social media plan. The goal is to provide useful information to those interested in the intersection of innovation, law, business, and technology. Please follow along, propose questions for our guests, and engage with us by looking for our hashtag, #NLawEnTP.
We couldn’t be more excited about the companies we plan to visit and our hosts:
Atrium
Jordan Bramble, Machine Learning
David Cheng, Product
Shreyas Doshi, BizOps
Julia Hazer, Legal Apps
Justin Kan, Co-Founder and CEO
Sumin Kim (JD ’13), Counsel
Jillian Kozyra, Data
Wagma Mohammadi, Legal Recruiter
Nakeena Taylor (JD ‘11), Counsel
Chris Zehner, Records
Cisco
Mark Chandler, EVP, Chief Legal Officer and Chief Compliance Officer
Steve Harmon, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel
Gilead
Ja Moon, Senior Associate General Counsel
Brett Pletcher, Executive Vice President, General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer and Corporate Secretary
Shannon Ryan, Corporate Counsel
Gary Tully, Head of Legal Operations
Chinmayi Vembar, HR Business Partner
Crystal Wright, Legal Operations
Google Brain
Anand Babu (KSM ‘08), Director, New Products
Gusto
Liza Haskell (JD ‘12), Head of Legal
Zachary Kousnetz, Legal Counsel
Megan Niedermeyer, Legal Counsel
Chelsea Turner, Legal Counsel
Morrison Foerster
Timothy Harris (JD ‘97), Partner
Nextlaw Labs/Dentons
John Fernandez, Global Chief Innovation Officer
Maya Markovich, Head of Product
Ouster
Natasha Chu (JD ’15), Business Development
Myra Pasek (JD ‘90), General Counsel
SAP Ariba
Jay Mandal, VP Product Strategy
Day One Insights
Tarun Wadhwa, Founder and CEO
The Relish
Ashley Wellington-Fahey, Co-Founder and CEO
Wildcat Venture Partners
Bill Ericson (JD ‘88), Founding Partner
Geoffrey Moore, Venture Partner
Special Guest: Buddy Arnheim, Partner, Chair of Emerging Companies and VC Practice, Perkins Coie
In preparation for the trip, the students have researched each company and also read excerpts from innovation classics, such as the Business Model Canvas, Lean Canvas, Toyota Way, Crossing the Chasm, Four Steps to the Epiphany, Lean Startup, and the Innovator’s Dilemma. Student teams created a Lean Canvas for each company, analyzing their business model and approach to creating a strategic advantage in the market. Students also reviewed materials about emerging technologies, such as Andrew Ng’s “Artificial Intelligence is the New Electricity.”
Thank you to the people and companies who have opened their doors to us and our students. We cannot wait to meet with you this week.
For everyone else, stay tuned for insights, photos, videos, and more from the trip, all which will include the hashtag #NLawEnTP. If you like what you see, please support us and our students by liking, retweeting, and sharing our social media content. Thank you in advance!
The MSL program is a unique offering at Northwestern Law. Learn more about this innovative law program for scientists, technologists, engineers, mathematicians, healthcare professionals, and other STEM professionals who wish to blend their expertise with law and business.
