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Emory Student Blends Business, Law and Science [by Erica Winter] The TI:GER program had not even formally begun when Jon Ziglar, now a third-year student, decided to come to Emory University School of Law - but Ziglar heard about it on a visit to the campus. “The TI:GER program was the reason I decided to go to Emory,” he says, it “made the decision for me.”
Ziglar graduated from Princeton in 1995 and
This takes a lot of work, and a lot of time, a
Faculty members in charge of the program
spent some time as an investment banker in
commitment which is one challenge for TI:
are open to student suggestions, says Ziglar,
New York City and San Francisco. He then did
GER program participants. The law student
and some fine-tuning has been done to TI:
a stint with a software company before decid-
on Ziglar’s team with an IP focus needed to
GER.
ing to go to law school.
leave the program due to time constraints, he says, although she is still at Emory Law.
One change is the addition of a link to Geor-
With his business background and interest
The program requires far more time than a
gia Tech’s Venture Lab, says Ziglar. Venture
in pursuing corporate law, Ziglar was a good
regular law school class. The time spent on
Lab is a resource for science and technology
fit for the TI:GER program, and is one of 15
a project depends on the group and on the
faculty members at Georgia Tech, explains
third-year and 14 second-year JD students
project at hand, says Ziglar. Some weeks, his
Professor Margo Bagley, who oversees the
in the program now. Participants are divided
team puts in “a ton of hours,” says Ziglar,
program on the Emory side. Scientists can
into teams of one PhD science student and
and some weeks are slower, like any work at
use the lab to create early-stage inventions,
one MBA student - both from Georgia Tech,
a real-world business.
which are ultimately owned by the university.
specializes in IP law, and the other who
There are several fields of science involved
For T program participants, however, if their
focuses on business or corporate law.
in the TI:GER program team projects, not just
team’s science invention development is
computer-science. Other projects include
not moving at a pace to match with the legal
The team that Ziglar is on demonstrates both
inventions in biomedical science, rapid proto-
research, and there is a necessary pause
the rewards and challenges of the TI:GER
typing of new products, and cell biology.
on that front, then MBA and JD students
plus two JD students from Emory - one who
in the second program year can work with
program. The PhD student in the group is
real-life inventions - and their related busi-
developing modeling software for semicon-
The PhD science students are selected for
ductor design, he says. This invention is one
the program first, then the right number of
ness and legal issues - at Venture Lab. The
of those in the program that has immediate
MBA and JD students are chosen, and put on
law students work under the supervision
commercial applications, says Ziglar, and it
teams with the scientists. Once accepted to
of a law school faculty member, and assist
is nearly complete.
the program, the JD students hear presenta-
the licensed attorney in doing legal work for
tions by the PhD students on their inventions.
Venture Lab inventors and inventions.
The work - and seeing what the scientists
Then the JD students rank their top three
come up with - is exciting, says Ziglar. “They
choices for the PhD student/ project to work
While, ultimately, JD students in the program
are far smarter than we are,” says Ziglar of
with, says Ziglar; many got their first choices.
do not draft actual patents or licensing
his PhD student colleagues. The TI:GER pro-
agreements or create companies - students
gram serves to show the different working
“The course is great because it really is
cannot practice law in the course - they do
methods and outlooks of the students from
interdisciplinary,” says Ziglar. All team par-
get a feel for what it is like to work with
each area, and lets them understand and
ticipants become more knowledgeable about
professionals in other fields closely linked to
value each other’s strengths. The scientists
their own fields- PhD science students see
their own.
have vision, and long-range goals; they focus
the legal and business sides of their work,
on the invention itself, says Ziglar. The JD
MBAs get a window into science and the law,
The summer after his first year, Ziglar
and MBA students, however, can help the
and the JD students get a better understand-
worked in the corporate group at the firm
scientist navigate from “step 1” to “step 20”
ing of the scientific process and the business
Womble Carlyle. For his second summer, he
and reach their goals in the best way.
world.
worked in the technology group at Kilpatrick
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