Traditionally, lawyers have viewed risk as something to be eliminated or minimized. That approach doesn’t fly in the world of entrepreneurial ventures and startups, where big rewards require some risk, said Erik Gordon, director of the Zell Entrepreneurship and Law Program (ZEAL) at the University of Michigan Law School. One major goal of the program is to get students to think about risk in the same way that business people do.
“For the students who want to become entrepreneurs or go into business, we give them the skills to do it,” he said. “For the ones who want to be lawyers and counsel businesses, we want them to not be deal-killing machines who you never call unless you absolutely have to.”
