Business & Entrepreneurship

Tokiyasu Fujita (left), former justice on the Supreme Court of Japan and Hiroshi Itoh, PhD, professor of political science at State University of New York at Plattsburgh, speak during the Washington University in St. Louis School of Law’s two-day symposium Decision-Making on the Japanese Supreme Court Sept. 10. The Center for Empirical Research in the Law hosted the conference.

WUSTL’s campus-wide entrepreneurship curriculum has been recognized as one of the best in the country by The Princeton Review survey published in Entrepreneur magazine today.  WUSTL’s undergrad and graduate programs placed in the top ten out of more than 2000 schools. A venture started by three WUSTL students also is featured in the October magazine on newsstands and online Sept. 21.

Kevin Washburn, JD, professor and dean of the school of law at the University of New Mexico, will deliver a talk on “Improving Criminal Justice for American Indians,” at noon Thursday, Sept. 23, for the Assembly Series. The program, which is free and open to the public, will be held in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom in Anheuser-Busch Hall.

The Washington University in St. Louis School of Law has announced that 22 recent graduates have secured judicial clerkships this year in 13 different states and the District of Columbia. Eighteen clerks are 2010 graduates and four are alumni. Despite a difficult job market, the total number of law school graduates securing clerkships rose by more than 40 percent over 2009.

The financial crisis and recession have changed the global economy and the way business works. Figuring out the “new normal” economy is challenging managers everywhere to develop new strategies and initiatives. Olin Business School is offering three new programs to sharpen professionals’ skills as they navigate the uncharted waters of the “new normal” economy.

Calling all entrepreneurs! WUSTL’s two annual business plan competitions are ready to get underway. The kick off event for commercial and nonprofit business plans takes place September 16 in conjunction with an Assembly Series speaker, Matthew Bishop who will talk about capitalism and philanthropy.

Internationally known human rights attorney and Washington University in St. Louis alumnus Arsalan Iftikhar, JD, also known as “The Muslim Guy,” will address the timely topic of “Islamic Pacifism” as the next speaker in the annual WUSTL School of Law Public Interest Law & Policy Speakers Series, titled “Access to Justice.” This popular series, now in its 13th year, runs from fall 2010 through spring 2011 and includes nationally prominent lawyers, academics, and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists with expertise in human rights, environmental justice, death penalty, social justice, and free speech and fair use online. 

In its 15th year, the “Work, Families and Public Policy” series, a schedule of Monday brown-bag seminars presented on campus biweekly through Dec. 6 will give faculty and graduate students of St. Louis-area universities an array of opportunities to lunch and learn. The series features one-hour seminars on research interests including labor, households, health care, law and social welfare by faculty from local and national universities.

Down-and-dirty adversity during legal negotiations may be a popular image but mutual fairness is the winner when it comes to satisfactory settlements, according to the research of Rebecca Hollander-Blumoff, associate professor of law.

First year MBA students at Olin get a head start on the school year with a two week boot camp that involves serious academic work, team building exercises, career counseling and socializing. Jackson Nickerson, PhD, the Frahm Family Professor of Organization & Strategy, greeted the class with this challenge: “I dare you to take full responsibility to transform your thinking and change your life forever.”  Nickerson teaches a course in critical thinking custom-designed for Olin students.