Student Profile
Erin Milos: JD/MBA program fits her career goals Erin Milos grew up on a farm in Dufur, an Oregon town that during her childhood boasted a population of about 500 people. Though she was surrounded by agricultural crops of wheat and fruit, Milos early on had an interest in becoming a lawyer. Milos’ family moved to Salem after she graduated from high school and, after taking a break in her education to begin her family, Milos decided to attend Willamette University. “Of the three Oregon schools I visited, Willamette just feels like more of a community to me,” she says.
which can be earned in four years rather than five, fosters a powerful combination of skills. “When you combine perspectives from law and business, I think you do understand what small businesses are going through and how to harness their optimism for planning for the future,” he says. “For someone like Erin, who has a lot of positive energy, the curriculum in the business school will serve to enrich her leadership skills.” Along with the skills to represent business clients, students in the JD/ MBA program learn about entrepreneurship, marketing, finance and accounting, which benefits attorneys no matter what kind of practice they are running, Friedman says.
“I felt like an MBA would help me understand how businesses work and understand my clients better.” After earning her bachelor’s degree at Willamette in 2012, she set her sights on attending the university’s College of Law. Then Milos learned about Willamette’s JD/MBA Joint Degree Program and knew she had found the right fit for her career goals. “My career dream is to work with small businesses and have my own practice,” she says. “I felt like an MBA would help me understand how businesses work and understand my clients better. It also will help me in running my practice.” Harnessing optimism Professor David Friedman, who in the past has served as director of the College of Law’s Certificate Program in Law and Business, says the JD/MBA,
With anticipated graduation in 2017, Milos has enhanced her education by participating in several activities that complement the Joint Degree Program. She says the university was quick to match her up with an attorney mentor who is a recent JD/MBA graduate working in the type of law she is interested in practicing. Milos also had the option to choose business law as her spring semester elective.
Department of Justice’s General Counsel Division, Business Activities Section. This job has been the best business law-related opportunity thus far,” she says. In addition, Milos appreciates the continuing sense of community that drew her to Willamette University in the first place. “What makes this program amazing is the quality of the faculty and staff. The dean is so accessible, and I’ve never had a problem I felt I couldn’t ask someone about,” she says. By Melody Finnemore, a freelance writer who writes about law school programs, legal professionals and issues that impact the profession.
Pursuing experience “The Placement Office was instrumental in connecting me with the right people that led to my current job clerking at the
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