About Us

ZEAL (Zell Entrepreneurship and Law) offers Michigan Law students, the University, and the entrepreneurial and business community a variety of programs that build on the resources of one of the world's top-tier law schools.

Michigan Law students will learn about the real-world practice of a wide range of entrepreneurially oriented activities, including venture finance, private equity, startups, real estate, mergers and acquisitions, investment banking, IPOs, intellectual property, employment law, and related areas. In addition to acquiring substantive knowledge and hands-on practice skills, students will learn how to think like a businessperson, an entrepreneur, and an attorney who serves clients that are pursuing entrepreneurial activities—whether in startups, fast-growing companies, large corporations, financial services and consulting firms, or in law firms that are themselves entrepreneurial. ZEAL students will understand the mindsets of people who see risk as an opportunity, not as an enemy. They will learn how to pursue careers in a wide variety of industries and roles.

ZEAL activities include programs for both law students and the community at large. Law-student programs include traditional and non-traditional Law School coursework for credit, and a mini-MBA course called "Business Basics for Lawyers." At ZEAL's Law School Entrepreneurship Clinic, students provide legal services to clients from the entire campus under the supervision of practicing attorneys. ZEAL also will provide speakers from law, business, and finance, and coordinate activities with students from sister schools across the U-M campus that include business plan competitions, company incubation, student-led venture capital funds, and counseling from the U-M Ross School of Business's Zell Lurie Institute and College of Engineering's Center for Entrepreneurship.

Michigan Law students will graduate with specialized knowledge, new ways of thinking, and new ways of seeing and participating in the opportunities available to people who have the benefit of a top-tier legal education.