Annual Conference

Annual Entrepreneurship Law Conferences

From the initial idea to launching a new venture, an entrepreneur encounters legal questions every step of the way.

Historically, the Donald Pritzker Entrepreneurship Law Center (DPELC) hosted annual conferences. These events were designed as a forum to explore legal issues that entrepreneurs face when considering new ventures. Instead of one annual conference, the DPELC now hosts meaningful events throughout the year. 

The Conference was hosted by Northwestern Law's Donald Pritzker Entrepreneurship Law Center and the DPELC student group.  

Trademark Workshop

Distinguished Entrepreneur Award Recipients

2015 Entrepreneurship Conference Keynote Speaker Tom Morsch
Tom Morsch, 2015 Keynote Speaker and Distinguished Entrepreneurship Award Recipient, with DPELC client Julie Peterson (left) and Esther Barron (right).
  • 2020 Neal Salés-Griffin, Managing Director, Techstars Chicago
  • 2019 Myra Pasek, General Counsel of Ouster
  • 2018 Benjamin Hernandez, CEO of NuMat Technologies
  • 2017 Nazar Yasin, Founder and Managing Partner of Rise Capital and Founder and Executive Chairman of MarcoPolo Learning
  • 2016 Stuart Frankel, Chief Executive Officer of Narrative Science
  • 2015 Tom Morsch, Founder of Small Business Opportunity Center at Northwestern Law
  • 2014 Joe Dwyer, venture capitalist, technologist, and serial entrepreneur
  • 2013 J. B. Pritzker, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Pritzker Group
  • 2012 Tom Churchwell, Managing Partner of Midwest Venture Partners and Founder of ViMedicus, Inc.
  • 2011 Chuck Templeton, Founder of OpenTable.com
  • 2010 Marc Schulman, President of Eli's Cheesecake
  • 2009 Buzz Ruttenberg, Founder of Belgravia Group
  • 2008 Howard Tullman, venture capitalist, technologist, and serial entrepreneur
  • 2007 Matt Ferguson, Chief Executive Officer of CareerBuilder.com
  • 2006 Randall Kaplan, Co-Founder of Akamai Technologies and Founder of Jump Investors