Doctoroff Business Leadership Program

Kaplan at Robie House

Bridget Tully, '17, with Steven N. Kaplan, Neubauer Family Distinguished Service Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance, Booth School of Business and Thomas A. Cole Distinguished Visiting Professor in Business Law

The line between the business and legal workplace is dissolving. Today’s corporations want lawyers with the business skills and savvy to serve as key advisors in today’s complex global business environment—lawyers who know how to analyze financial statements, think creatively about capital structures and advise on complex business transactions. And organizations want executives with the critical analysis and reasoning skills required to lead in today’s increasingly volatile and uncertain world—leaders who can deftly recognize and navigate risks and create innovative business solutions to address them.

That’s why we created the Doctoroff Business Leadership Program—a certificate-granting program that blends the best of the MBA curriculum into our prestigious, three-year Law School education and is designed to arm students with the skills and knowledge they will need to thrive as corporate attorneys, in-house counsels, business leaders, and entrepreneurs. 

Each year, a select group of high-achieving students with a demonstrated interest in business and law are accepted into the Doctoroff Program. As part of the Program, students are matched with an alumni business mentor, participate in a business internship and leadership enrichment activities, and are required to complete a core business curriculum taught at the Law School by leading faculty from UChicago’s world-renowned Booth School of Business.

The Doctoroff Business Leadership Program is a compelling alternative to a JD/MBA program. Our students graduate in three years with a JD and a Doctoroff Program certificate—and, more importantly, a broader and more nuanced perspective about their careers. Our program is selective, but the experience is powerful. If you’re planning a career at the intersection of law and business, apply today.

If you have further questions about the Doctoroff Program, please contact Associate Dean for Admissions and Financial Aid Ann K. Perry at akperry@uchicago.edu or Meg Bingle Krishnan, Director of Admissions and Programs, at mbingle@uchicago.edu

How to Apply

If you would like to apply to be part of the Doctoroff Business Leadership Program, please select “Yes” under the “Doctoroff Program” section of the University of Chicago Law School Application and attach a statement of interest to your application describing your interest in the Doctoroff Program.

Please note Doctoroff Business Leadership Program admissions decisions will follow in an email separate from the admissions decisions emails, in late March or early April. For questions on the Doctoroff program, please email: Meg Krishnan megkrishnan@uchicago.edu

Program Requirements

  • Complete a core business curriculum taught by eminent UChicago Booth and Law School faculty during your 2L and 3L years.  Current courses for the 2021-2022 Academic Year include:
    • Competitive Strategy
    • Accounting and Financial Analysis
    • Corporate and Entrepreneurial Finance
    • Strategies and Processes of Negotiations
    • Managerial Psychology. 
  • Participate in a 3-year mentorship program. Each student will be matched with a business mentor who provides career guidance during the student's three years.
  • Complete a summer business internship between 1L and 2L years.
  • Participate in enrichment activities and programs focused on business, entrepreneurship, and leadership.

Faculty

Chicago Booth Faculty

Philip G. Berger – Accounting and Financial Analysis
Wallman Family Professor of Accounting

Eric Budish - Competitive Strategy
Steven G. Rothmeier Professor of Economics and Centel Foundation/Robert P. Reuss Faculty Scholar

Ayelet Fischbach - Managerial Psychology
Jeffrey Breakenridge Keller Professor of Behavioral Science and Marketing and IBM Corporation Faculty Scholar

Steven Neil Kaplan – Corporate & Entrepreneurial Finance
Neubauer Family Distinguished Service Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance, Booth School of Business and Thomas A. Cole Distinguished Visiting Professor in Business Law

George Wu – Strategies and Process of Negotiation
Professor of Behavioral Science, Booth School of Business, and the Barry and Jan Zubrow Distinguished Visiting Professor in Business

 

Faculty Director

Douglas G. Baird
Harry A. Bigelow Distinguished Service Professor of Law

Mentorships & Internships

Each Doctoroff student is matched with an alumni business mentor to provide the student with invaluable advice, connections and coaching as they think through their career possibilities and choices. Every effort is made to match students with mentors who have backgrounds, experiences or connections aligned with the student’s career interests.   

Participants in the Doctoroff Business Leadership Program are required to complete a summer business internship between their first and second years. Each student works closely with the Executive Director and program faculty to identify business internships, submit applications and prepare for interviews. Since inception, Doctoroff students have interned with a number of leading companies across a diverse array of industries, including:

  • Baxter International
  • Bloomberg L.P.
  • Burford Capital
  • Cantor Fitzgerald, L.P.
  • CDW
  • Evergreen Real Estate Services
  • Gerchen Keller Capital, LLC
  • HEICO Companies LLC
  • Hilco IP Merchant Banking
  • Illinois State Department of Commerce
  • Illinois Toolworks
  • JPMorgan Investment Bank
  • McArthur Foundation
  • Marvel Studios
  • MB Real Estate
  • Mesirow Advanced Strategies
  • Microsoft
  • MLB.com
  • National Basketball Association
  • Nuveen
  • Ocean Tomo
  • Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation
  • Propel Financial
  • The Options Clearing Corporation
  • TMZ
  • United Continental Holdings (United Airlines)
  • U.S. Department of Treasury
  • Ventas, Inc.
  • VMware, Inc.

Business and Entrepreneurship Campus Resources

Law School Clinics

Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Rustandy Center

  • Social New Venture Challenge — Over the last few years, three Law School teams have competed and placed in the competition. You can read about them here.
  • Open Impact Studio Workshop — Open Impact is a studio workshop series during which UChicago students and faculty collaborate with colleagues from across disciplines, get inspired by emerging, global challenges, and learn how to use design thinking to develop an idea and test its potential.