Preparing students to lead
Mitchell Hamline’s Law and Business Certificate prepares J.D. students to become business leaders, business managers, and business lawyers. It supplements the J.D. degree and demonstrates that a student has achieved business law competency, practical experience in business contexts, and mastery of critical business thinking and communication skills through a rigorous course of study, research and writing, and practical experience. Students seeking the Mitchell Hamline Law and Business Certificate will be exposed to business law, key principles of business as well as ethical problem solving of complex business issues.
To earn the Law and Business Certificate, students must complete a rigorous course of study that includes required and elective courses in a range of business topics including accounting and finance, compliance and risk management and business communications. Students will also gain practical experience in business through the Law and Business Externship program or equivalent clinic, externship, or work experience.
Requirements
Certificate requirements
Students must complete twelve required credits and nine credits of electives.
Required courses
12 required credits are required to complete a Law and Business Certificate
- Business Organizations (3 or 4 credits)
- Lawyer as Business Owner (3 credits)
- Transactions and Settlements (3 credits)
- Commercial Law Survey (3 credits) OR Secured Transactions (3 credits).
If both courses are taken, one will serve as a Required Course. The other course will be an Elective Course.
Elective courses
9 elective credits are required to complete a Law and Business Certificate (21 total)
- Antitrust (3 credits)
- Banking Law (3 credits)
- Bankruptcy (2 credits)
- Business Entity Taxation (4 credits)
- Business Ethics (3 credits)
- Business Law Clinic (2 credits)
- Business of IP (varies)
- Business Regulation and Compliance (3 credits)
- Commercial Law Survey (highly recommended, bar exam course) (3 credits)
- Copyright Law (3 credits)
- Corporate Accounting and Financial Reporting (2 credits)
- Corporate Finance
- Deals and Disputes (3 credits)
- Employment Discrimination (3 credits)
- Employment Discrimination Mediation Representation Clinic (3 credits)
- Employment Law (3 Employment Discrimination (3 credits)
- Income Tax (3 credits)
- Independent Externship (must be approved in advance by center director)
- Independent Long Paper (must be approved in advance by center director)
- Independent Research (must be approved in advance by center director)
- Information Law and Governance (3 credits)
- Intellectual Asset Management (3 credits)
- Intellectual Property Licensing (varies)
- International Business Transactions (3 credits)
- IP Clinic (varies)
- Law and Business Externship (4 credits)
- Legal Practicum: Business Practice (1-5 credits)
- Legal Practicum: General Practice (3 or 5 credits)
- Mergers and Acquisitions (4 credits)
- Modern Real Estate Transactions (3 credits)
- Negotiation (3 credits)
- Patent Law I
- Patent Law II
- The Start-Up Business Enterprise (3 credits)
- Secured Transactions (highly recommended, bar exam course) (3 credits)
- Securities Regulation (every other year) (3 credits)
- Trade Secret Law (2 credits)
- Trademark Law (3 credits)
Some of the courses listed are offered infrequently. Please check the course offerings as you plan ahead. Courses other than those listed above and that are sufficiently focused on business or business law may also meet the Elective Course requirement subject to the approval of the center director.
Practical experience requirement
To obtain the Law and Business Certificate, a student must obtain practical experience with a substantial foundation in law and business through the equivalent of a minimum of four (4) credits provided by one or more:
- Clinics, or
- Externships, or
- Residency, or
- Legal Practicum: Business Practice, or
- Legal Practicum: General Practice Skills Practicum
Courses used to satisfy the Practical Experience requirement will count as Elective Courses.
Not-for-credit practical experience with a substantial foundation in law and business may meet the Practical Experience requirement subject to the approval of the center director. The not-for-credit practical experience must be approved by the center director before work begins. The center director may require documentation and/or reflective writings describing the time worked.
Certificate Planning GuideStudent engagement requirement
A student pursuing the Law and Business Certificate is encouraged to be actively engaged in extracurricular law and business activities over the student’s law school career through such means as:
- Mitchell Hamline Business Law Society (student organization) membership
- Participation in business-related student competitions
- Bar Association or other professional organization memberships
- Business-related CLE and other event attendance
Writing requirement
To obtain the Law and Business Certificate, a student must complete a paper on a business law or business topic. The paper must meet the guidelines applicable to the Advanced Research and Writing (ARW) requirement for graduation from Mitchell Hamline School of Law. The topic must be approved by the center director. A student may satisfy the Writing Requirement by completing the ARW requirement in the context of an Elective Course. For example:
- Business Ethics (3 credits)
- Legal Practicum: Business Practice (5 credits)
- Legal Practicum: General Practice (5 credits)
- Mergers and Acquisitions (4 credits)
Academic requirement
To obtain the Law and Business Certificate, a student must have a cumulative grade-point average of at least 3.0 calculated at the time of graduation in the courses taken to satisfy the Law and Business Certificate requirements. This includes any course in which the student completed the Writing Requirement that has not otherwise been approved as an Elective Course for purposes of the Elective Course requirement.
Advisor requirement
A student pursuing the Law and Business Certificate is encouraged to obtain an academic advisor through the Center for Law and Business. The academic advisor may mentor and advise the student in selecting courses, fulfilling the practical experience and writing requirements, and completing the other steps necessary to obtain the Law and Business Certificate.
Forms
Application form
Students seeking Mitchell Hamline’s Certificates in Law and Business must email the 1) application form below, 2) a resume, and 3) an unofficial transcript to Professor Kim Vu-Dinh by email as soon as possible, but ideally before having completed his/her 45th credit at Mitchell Hamline.
Students must choose a business law advisor here: https://mitchellhamline.edu/center-for-law-and-business/leadership-and-faculty/. Your advisor must sign your application electronically or in person. After your application has been signed, email it to Professor Kim Vu-Dinh
By submitting the application form early in the student’s law school career, the student will receive academic counseling advice specifically tailored to the student’s particular interests, skills, and career goals.
Certificate Application FormNotice of completion form
If you plan to complete the requirements to earn your Certificate in Law and Business, please notify Professor Kim Vu-Dinh by emailing her your intent approximately one month before your graduation.
After you have received your final grades in your business law courses, complete the Notice of Completion form verifying you have met all the requirements necessary for the certificate for which you applied.
Then, email : 1) your completed Notice of Completion form, 2) your resume, and 3) your unofficial transcript at Kim.VuDinh@mitchellhamline.edu.
Notice of Completion Form