A modified version of this article appeared in Northwestern Now on December 4, 2023.

By Claire Zulkey

The mood was light and festive at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law on a cloudy, windy late October morning as dozens of MSL alumni gathered in person and online to celebrate the program’s 10th anniversary – a decade in the making.

All alumni present introduced themselves and named the wide range of fields in which they work: patent litigation, clinical research, philanthropy, R&D, data science, emergency medicine, consulting, politics, ecological restoration, and more. Some alumni had recently graduated, while others, like 2016 MSL alumna Celeste Calhoun-Johnson – a member of the inaugural cohort, regulatory compliance manager with Walgreens, and active member of the Pritzker Law School Board – were well-established in their careers.

Regardless of where they fell on their professional journey, one thing was clear October 27-28, 2023, during this celebratory weekend: The impressive impact of the MSL program on its graduates, current students, and the Law School as a whole.

The Need for a STEM-focused Law Degree

The Master of Science in Law was created at a time when professionals from diverse fields were being tasked with increasingly complex issues involving regulation, product development, privacy, use of data, contracts, business development, and entrepreneurship. The Law School recognized that STEM professionals, in particular, faced intersectional legal and business issues, but many lacked the training to respond to these challenges. From there, the MSL was born.

“We said, ‘We could do this. We could teach STEM professionals about law and regulation and contracts and negotiations – things they’re going to be dealing with, but they don’t have a chance to learn except on the job,’” said Clinical Associate Professor of Law and MSL Director Leslie Oster in an interview before the reunion.

The MSL addressed this gap in the market, beginning with its first cohort in 2014, and the program has grown dramatically throughout the years. Compared to the inaugural cohort of 30 students (18 attended full time and 12 part time), there are now approximately 200 residential full-time and online part-time students enrolled, with more than 600 well-trained, interdisciplinary alumni working in a variety of fields throughout the United States and across the globe.

MSL Through the Years

During the program’s 10th anniversary celebration – which was held in tandem with the Law School’s annual reunion weekend – MSL staff covered the many ways the program has evolved, including the addition of the online component in 2018.

“Since creating the online version, we’ve gotten many more mid-career professionals,” Oster said. “They’re saying, ‘I already have an MBA or a PhD, but I interact with law all the time. I’m reading contracts; I’m developing intellectual property; I’m facing issues involving privacy or security or a variety of other things.”

Current MSL student Nereida Parks, ‘25, is one such mid-career professional. After spending her career to date in healthcare with leadership roles at IQVIA, GE Healthcare, and Anthem, she realized she could benefit from legal expertise.

“As healthcare has become more innovative, data privacy issues and concerns have begun to come up,” she said. She investigated programs at other law schools but found that she would either have to pursue a J.D. or a different kind of master’s degree that didn’t fit her specific needs. She found programs that “covered regulatory compliance, but they didn’t have the data privacy and cybersecurity pieces at the extent and depth that Northwestern’s MSL program did.”

Parks said the MSL has allowed her to fill in gaps in her legal knowledge with a unique combination of training. “I have the legal and business acumen to understand everything around data privacy and cybersecurity and the ability to apply this in a business setting,” she said. “That is a unique combination of skill sets that most people don’t have. You get all the core foundations to know enough to be deadly.” She was recently offered a role as a Regional Privacy Officer of North America and Specialty Care at Sanofi.

Current MSL student Jennifer Jing-Syuan Tzeng, ’24, applied to the program after she realized that legal expertise could enhance her work at her prior job as a senior tax associate at PwC. “I noticed that although I did tax, my clients needed some contract, government procurement, or merger and acquisition expertise. The MSL program offered what I needed – the law aspects and the ability to touch on business strategies,” she said.

Still in her first semester of the program, Tzeng has been impressed by the curriculum, particularly Business Formation and Structure, taught by Clinical Professor of Law Stephen Reed.

“He has his own philosophy talking about each entity, considering the formation, the fiduciary duty, the share of control and interest, or the taxation aspects,” she said. “Learning not only from the materials he comes up with, but also his experience, will be really helpful for my work in the future.”

A Program on the Forefront

Part of the MSL’s success is due to the program’s ability to anticipate industry needs. Program changes throughout the years have also reflected the changing needs and interests of its students.

“Lots of you have had twists and turns along the way and will have pivots along the way. That’s indicative of the program and who you are – you’re on the cutting edge of things,” Oster told the students and alumni present at the anniversary celebration.

The MSL curriculum is dynamic and future-oriented, with courses added over time in industries like health, fintech, financial regulation, and privacy.

“Since we had no past to build on in creating the MSL, what we did was look ahead to the future,” said Daniel Rodriguez, Harold Washington Professor of Law and Dean of the Law School when the program was launched. “Those of us involved in the development of the program were trying to anticipate the needs of the legal system and the business world, and trying to figure out how technology would fit in with those. We were building a curriculum for which there was no model and looking to attract students who were not just focused on business as usual but were willing to take a risk with this new program.”

Beyond adding more students and more courses, Rodriguez, who still teaches in the MSL, believes the program “has the real potential to be a disruptive and productive force in the legal services ecosystem.”

He also sees the MSL blazing a trail to enable graduates to have the skillset and regulatory permission to advise and even represent clients.

“I don’t necessarily mean representing a defendant in a criminal trial,” Rodriguez said. “I mean helping entrepreneurs, advising people with a great idea who want to patent their invention, and engaging in representation for individuals in administrative proceedings that don’t require somebody to be a licensed lawyer.”

For its 10-year anniversary weekend, though, the MSL students, alumni, and faculty were there to celebrate its persistence and growth over the past decade. The MSL Through the Years presentation was followed by a mentorship lunch (Oster joked that a large part of the program hinged on “food and swag”) and mini-courses taught by professors Alexandra Franco, Jeffrey Carter-Johnson, Esther Barron, and Reed on bioethics, trademarks, entrepreneurship, and corporate law, respectively.

Everyone later convened for a Chinese banquet at Lao Sze Chun restaurant. Over 100 alumni had registered for the meal. While the restaurant expressed concerns over how to fit everyone, Oster wasn’t concerned: The more, the merrier, she said.