Elizabeth Milnikel is the Director of the Institute for Justice Clinic on Entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago Law School.   Under Beth’s guidance, Chicago law students take their first steps into the practice of law by providing legal advice to lower income entrepreneurs.  Beth and her students have helped the owner of a local shoe store re-negotiate her lease, advised an experienced moving man on the convoluted process required to start his own authorized moving company, and drafted agreements to protect the characters created by a toy company.  Beth also teaches a seminar on entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago Law School, to introduce law students to the vital role played by entrepreneurs and the legal obstacles they must overcome.  Under her leadership, the Clinic has extended its reach to many entrepreneurs and community leaders, so that many more people may learn why the law must be made a help, rather than a hindrance, for inner city entrepreneurs.

Beth came to the IJ Clinic from the law firm Sidley Austin Brown & Wood, where she practiced for several years with a specialty in intellectual property litigation. Prior to joining Sidley, she clerked for the Honorable Bruce M. Selya on the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.  Beth received her J.D. magna cum laude from University of Michigan Law School in 1999. During her time at Michigan, she served as Managing Editor of the Michigan Law Review and interned in the General Counsel's office of the Guggenheim Museum. As an undergraduate, Beth studied Comparative Literature at Yale University, graduating magna cum laude in 1996.