Since its inception, the MSL program has attracted students with significant business experience, including some who already have MBAs. Why would experienced business professionals with significant educational pedigrees want to get a master’s degree in law? We can try to sell you on this, but we thought it might be more effective for you to hear directly from business professionals who have chosen to study in the MSL program. So we asked them this very question (and some other questions as well) in the hopes of eliciting information that might allow others to evaluate the benefits of MSL learning in the business world.

One thing is for sure: law is everywhere; it is embedded into every important business situation. Especially in today’s STEM-based business landscape, professionals who understand the legal implications of business decisions and the business impact of legal decisions have a big leg up. The MSL curriculum facilitates this understanding by focusing on a variety of topics that contribute to a more holistic and nuanced understanding of business – topics like intellectual property, regulation, data, contracts, and many more are not emphasized in business schools, but are hugely important in successful businesses. Professionals who combine an MSL degree with an MBA find that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Please read on to learn more about how the MSL has benefitted business professionals.

First, let’s meet the MSLs:

We asked each of these students a few questions about their experiences:

Why did you opt for another degree after completing your MBA?

• “As my career progressed, I was increasingly involved with human capital issues, contract review, antitrust concerns, and other business decisions that had significant legal implications. I started to search for a program that would build on my prior business and engineering education and would be applicable to issues I was facing at work in real time. The content in the MSL program was a perfect complement to my MBA, and the Northwestern reputation, the fantastic faculty, and the alumni network provided added value for me.” – Tony Gaston (MSL ’17)
• “I believe you can never be overeducated. In my current role as a tech investor, I engage with lawyers on a daily basis, evaluating, crafting and negotiating investment documents. I did not seek to practice law, but I want to equip myself with an advanced degree that offers a more sophisticated understanding of legal reasoning and doctrine.” – Amir Kabir (MSL ’22)
• “I wanted to be able to think like an attorney, but couldn’t put my career on hold to get a JD. No other law school offered a focus on technology and intellectual property at the intersection of business and law. This made Northwestern’s Master of Science in Law the perfect fit for my education.” – Adam Gobbo (MSL ’22)
• “I chose the Master of Science in Law program because it provides an elevated level of specialization that my general MBA lacks. I am a large cap focused corporate investment banker venturing into the startup scene, and was interested in the MSL program’s wide range of electives on important aspects of entrepreneurship, such as operations, product development, finance, and compliance, on top of legal concerns. This coverage will surely make me a better advisor for an expanded scope of clients across a broader range of industries.” – Neville Lam (MSL ’23)
• “In my field, it’s not uncommon to have an engineering degree (or two!) plus an MBA. To stand out, I felt that I needed to acquire new and unique skills that would allow me to take on career challenges. In addition, I’m a curious person who believes in life-long learning. – Joe Lee (MSL ’21)
• “I did a joint MBA/Master’s in Civil Engineering program, and didn’t have room in my study program to take business law courses, although they were highly recommended to me. When I saw the curriculum in the MSL program offered these topics, I thought this was the right next step for my career.” – Jessica DeWitt (MSL ’16)
• “I realized my background had been very focused on the quantitative side, and there were areas I needed to develop to move forward in my career. An MBA is a quant degree; I knew I wanted an additional degree that was fundamentally different from quant-focused work.” – Ejede Okogbo (MSL ’16)
• “My work is primarily business-focused but is heavily influenced by the legal world. I found that I was interacting often with contracts, entrepreneurship, and IP but I did not possess the educational foundation to make me a true expert. The MSL bridged that gap and allowed me to speak with greater authority on matters within my purview.” – Katie Butcher (MSL ’22)

Now we know why these students chose the MSL after completing their MBAs, but did they find what they were looking for? Stay tuned for Part 2 of this interview, where we’ll unpack how these students have used the MSL to fill in knowledge gaps and grow in their careers!