Elon establishes JD/MBA program

Elon University School of Law and the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business at Elon University have established a four-year JD/MBA program. The JD/MBA program gives students the opportunity to earn both their juris doctor and master of business administration degrees in less time, and at a lower cost, than if both degrees were pursued separately. 

Students in the JD/MBA program take courses at both the law school’s downtown Greensboro campus and at the Ernest A. Koury Sr. Business Center located on Elon University's main campus in Elon, N.C.
Students enrolled in the program benefit from the law school’s innovative approach to legal education, including nationally recognized professional mentoring and leadership development programs, as well as the strengths of Elon’s MBA program, ranked the #1 part-time MBA program in the nation by Bloomberg Businessweek.

Law school dean George R. Johnson, Jr. said the program prepares students for exceptional and high-demand careers in business law and corporate leadership.

“Businesses today need people who have an exceptional understanding of both business and legal issues,” Johnson said. “Graduates of Elon’s JD/MBA program will have the capacity to address complex challenges facing modern businesses, such as navigation of changing state and federal regulations, stewardship of intellectual property, design of employment contracts and corporate policies, and management of businesses operations for companies operating internationally.”

Law school dean George R. Johnson, Jr., left, and Raghu Tadepalli, dean of the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business.
Raghu Tadepalli, dean of the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business, said the program leverages the strengths of Elon University.

“Students in the JD/MBA program benefit from the engaged learning approach that has propelled Elon to national prominence, including courses that incorporate an array of hands-on learning experiences, regular interaction with leaders in business and legal sectors, small class sizes and close working relationships with accomplished faculty members and practitioners,” Tadepalli said. “The JD/MBA program provides students with an innovative and an exceptional education in business and law.”

The strengths of Elon University’s law and business schools have been recognized with national distinctions. In 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked Elon’s MBA program the nation’s #1 part-time MBA with top scores in student satisfaction, post-MBA outcomes and A+ grades in teaching quality and curriculum. In 2012, The National Jurist named Elon Law one of “America’s 20 most innovative law schools,” noting that the law school’s Preceptor Program is one of the only programs in the country in which students are mentored by accomplished attorneys beginning in the first-year of law school. In 2013, Elon Law’s Leadership Program was recognized with the American Bar Association’s E. Smythe Gambrell Award, the leading national award recognizing excellence in legal professionalism programming.

The JD/MBA program builds on existing partnerships between Elon’s law and business schools. In the past four years, Elon Law and MBA students have traveled together to Southeast Asia to explore the dynamics of modern global trade through a joint international business course. In the course, law and business students engage lawyers and executives from a variety of law firms and corporations operating in some of the world’s most rapidly expanding markets including China, Singapore and Vietnam. 

Students in the JD/MBA program take courses at both the law school’s downtown Greensboro campus and at the Ernest A. Koury Sr. Business Center located on Elon University’s main campus in Elon, N.C. Students in the program have the option of completing their law degree in three years, while taking some MBA courses during summers and winters, followed by a year of study at the Love School of Business to complete the MBA degree; or completing the JD and MBA programs in four years through an integrated approach in which both degrees are completed after the fourth year of study.

Elon University is a selective, independent university renowned as a national model for engaged learning, along with excellence in the liberal arts and sciences and professional programs. In its 2014 “America’s Best Colleges” guide, U.S. News & World Report ranks Elon the #1 Southern master’s-level university. Newsweek-Kaplan has named Elon the nation’s “leader in engaged learning.” Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine and the Fiske Guide to Colleges both name Elon one of the nation’s “best value” private universities.

Visit www.elon.edu/jdmba for more information about Elon’s JD/MBA program and procedures for application. 

Learn more about Elon University School of Law here and about the MBA program at the Elon University Martha and Spencer Love School of Business here