Exploring a Startup Nation

A group of 16 University of Virginia School of Law students recently traveled to Israel to learn more about how the nation’s laws shape its entrepreneurial culture.

Students in the January term class Israeli Business Law and Innovation, taught by Professors Michal Barzuza and Dotan Oliar, who are originally from Israel, visited a number of institutions that help shape the startup economy there, including the Israeli Supreme Court, the Israeli Business Court, a research incubator at Rabin Medical Center and the startup Drove, which developed a platform for nongovernmental organizations to raise money.

“I developed a deeper understanding of what makes Israeli entrepreneurs so successful and it challenged me to think of ways these lessons could be applied in the United States,” said third-year law student Scott Myers.

The class also featured speakers on corporate law, intellectual property law, investor relations and venture capital. Guy Carmi, who graduated from the LL.M. program in 2005 and is now a partner with Lipa Meir & Co., hosted a session, as did other experts with connections to the University of Virginia.

“We look at how ideas and research are created and commercialized from a practical and a comparative perspective,” Barzuza said of the two-credit course.

Apart from the curricular component, students had time to see the sights in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.