Gurjot Kaur ’19 JD/MBA

I actually made my decision to attend Yale Law School before I had even gotten admitted to the law school. I was very attracted to the small class size, to the JD MBA program, to the fact that the class is so diverse and, there are so many different interests represented in the class, even though it's a very small community. So I remember after I had gotten admitted, I sent in my deposit even before I visited the law school. And when I visited the law school for admitted students weekend, I was confirmed that this was the right place for me.

The joint degree was something I was looking at before I was applying to law schools. I was particularly attracted to Yale's joint degree because you don't have to take summer classes, and it doesn't add any time to your program. And it's a great experience. Both are world class institutions. And I wanted to have the MBA so I could be a better lawyer to my clients. I could understand financial statements and other aspects of their business that I didn't necessarily learn from a legal education.

While here at the law school, I joined a couple organizations that really allowed me to meet like-minded people. For example, the Yale journal on regulation, a lot of students there go into corporate law. So it's a great network to be a part of. I'm also part of the Yale Law Business Society. And we always bring in speakers. I'm actually YLS-SOM liaison, so I'm working on organizing events between the business school and the law school, ensuring that students from both schools attend events that are held at other schools.

Last year I actually participated in the transactional law competition, where a couple of attorneys came up to the law school, and they taught us about how joint venture agreements are structured. And then they gave us our own case. And in teams of two, we developed a joint venture agreement, and we negotiated it as part of a competition.

I came straight through from undergrad, so a lot of the students I've been meeting here have PhDs or masters, or they've started nonprofits, amazing work experiences before they even got to law school. And as someone who's only been in school my entire life, it's amazing to learn from them and be a part of that environment.