Program on Innovation & Entrepreneurship

Program on Innovation & Entrepreneurship

The Program on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (PIE) draws upon the intellectual capital of its faculty and the energy of its talented students to build bridges between BC Law and outside innovation and entrepreneurship communities. PIE frames issues in business and innovation in terms of serving society, including equality of access to opportunities, social mobility, and human and economic development. PIE supports both academic research and student work and hosts speakers, conferences, and symposia in Boston and other cities.

PIE events facilitate discussion of pressing innovation, business, and entrepreneurship law challenges by gathering the expertise of lawyers, judges, businesspersons, regulators, and academics, and works with affiliated student groups to sponsor events of interest to students and to facilitate student research opportunities.

News Highlights

Upcoming Events

Platinum Sponsors

Ropes & Gray

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Silver Sponsors

WilmerHale

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Bronze Sponsors

Cooley

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Goodwin Procter

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Kirkland & Ellis

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Latham & Watkins

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Morrison Foerster

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Orrick

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Wilson Sonsini

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Faculty

Student Groups

Associated student organizations include:

 
 
 
 
  • LAMBDA
  • Real Estate Law Society
  • Space Law Society
  • Sports and Entertainment Law Society
  • Women's Law Center

About the Program on Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Academic Impact

The Program on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (PIE) focuses on legal issues arising in the areas of innovation and entrepreneurship, considered broadly. The Program brings together relevant BC faculty members, outside academics, lawyers, regulators, and businesspersons to consider and address important issues affecting innovation and entrepreneurship. The Program builds on and extends BC Law’s existing academic strengths in areas such as intellectual property, entrepreneurship, business law, and experiential learning. The Program sponsors speakers, discussions, conferences, and symposia at BC Law, in Boston, and in other cities. The program also supports academic research and exchange.

Student Opportunities

The Program on Innovation and Entrepreneurship Tethered Externship Seminar allows students to participate in externships in the legal departments of innovative and entrepreneurial companies and law firms in the Greater Boston area. The PIE classroom seminar to which the externships are tethered includes relevant legal instruction, student PIE projects, and a written work requirement.

PIE also works with affiliated student groups to plan and sponsor events of interest to BC law students. Through these collaborations, PIE helps bring to campus speakers who address cutting-edge legal issues in the areas of innovation and entrepreneurship. PIE also provides opportunities for students to work directly with the program on programs and legal research.

Engagement and Service of the Business and Legal Communities

Through PIE, BC Law engages with the legal and business communities to discuss important issues in the fields of innovation and entrepreneurship. PIE programs allow lawyers, businesspersons, regulators, and academics to discuss critical legal issues and consider new and innovative solutions to pressing innovation, business, and entrepreneurship law challenges. This exchange not only enriches the academic work of the law school, it also advances BC Law’s mission of service to the legal community and the greater world. Accordingly, PIE frames issues in business and innovation in terms of serving society, including consideration of equal access to opportunities, facilitation of social mobility, and human and economic development.

Amy LoBue

Contact: 
lobueam@bc.edu

Amy LoBue

Amy is originally from Evansville, IN and received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University with a minor in Intellectual Property for Engineers when she graduated in 2018. After graduation, Amy moved to the Boston area and taught high school chemistry and engineering for the 2018-19 and 2019-20 school years in Lynn, MA. While working as a teacher, Amy went back to school to receive a M.Ed. in Curriculum and Teaching, specializing in secondary science education, from Boston University and graduated in September 2020. Due to the technology inequities that the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated, Amy applied and was accepted into the 2020 Leadership in Education Equity fellowship at the Harvard Graduate School for Education’s Redesign Lab where she published and was a contributing author on articles helping school systems navigate teaching online and tracking student welfare. After the fellowship ended, Amy began law school at Boston College as part of the class of 2023. She has focused her legal studies in intellectual property, privacy & cybersecurity, technology, and blockchain courses. After graduation Amy will start at Mintz as a 1st Year Associate in the Intellectual Property Litigation practice group.


 
Chukwuemeka Kennedy Ukelegharanya

Contact: 
ukelegha@bc.edu

C. Kennedy Ukelegharanya

Kennedy is a current third-year law student. Prior to law school, he obtained bachelor’s degrees in biology and political science from Syracuse University and a master’s degree in biomedical science policy from Georgetown University. He then worked as a science and technology policy analyst at the Library of Congress in D.C. before moving to Boston for law school. During his 1L summer, he was a legal intern at a biotechnology company focused on cancer diagnostics. During his 2L year, he served as president of the Health Law Society, as a vice president of the Black Law Students Association, and as treasurer of the Intellectual Property and Technology Forum. During his 2L summer he was a summer associate at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati where he assisted the corporate group’s work advising innovative technology and life sciences companies through all stages of their business life cycle. He is now a co-chair of the Law Student Association’s career mentoring committee and a PIE Student Fellow. Following graduation, he will be returning to Wilson Sonsini as an associate, where he looks forward to working with innovative technology and life sciences startups, entrepreneurs, and the VCs that fund and advise them.


 

Past Events


Contact Us

Sandy Tarrant
Associate Clincial Professor
PIE Faculty Director 

tarrants@bc.edu