Companies must intentionally build ethical cultures and compliance procedures and systems to back them up, or they leave themselves vulnerable to potential fines, increased scrutiny from regulators and damage to their reputations, which can lead to a loss of customers.
Given recent increases in the regulatory landscape for non- and for-profit companies, the call for leadership in the areas of ethics and compliance is growing. It’s a crucial field for industries such as banking, finance and health care.
St. Thomas Law also offers a J.D. with a concentration in Organizational Ethics and Compliance for students who are interested in the field and want to go further in depth in the subject area. The concentration is noted on your transcript, and you can tell future employers of your concentration in law school toward this skill set.
To earn the compliance concentration and have it noted on your transcript, in addition to completing the requirements for your J.D., you must take 12 or more credits of compliance courses, including the three required courses below and one or more elective courses.
Required compliance courses:
Compliance Programming: Design, Operation, and Performance
Ethical Culture OR Ethical Leadership in Organizations
Executive Perspectives on Ethics and Compliance
Compliance electives within the school of law can be chosen from the list above. Several colleges and schools within the university also offer electives for Organizational Ethics and Compliance students.
Opus College of Business
Competitive Strategy
Global Risk Leadership
Leading Organizational Change
Legal Strategy for Global Business
Negotiation Skills
Project Management
Reputation and Stakeholder Management
Risk Management
School of Engineering
International Regulatory Affairs for Medical Devices
Subject to change. Preapproval for courses may be required. The University of St. Thomas reserves the right to amend the degree requirements and to add to or delete from the list of courses that satisfy the degree requirements at any time.
Highly Principled, Global Business Leaders
St. Thomas Opus College of Business
Opus College of Business offers a comprehensive, relevant business education that combines leadership, technical skill building and experiential learning. Its mission is to unlock the talent of future problem solvers and prepare students to be highly principled business leaders.
Lawyer Search is St. Thomas Law’s online directory of alumni. It is available to those with legal needs, for attorney networking and referrals and so current and prospective law students can meet attorneys working in their area of interest—like compliance and risk management. Click below to connect with one of our alums!
St. Thomas Law offers a compliance externship to provide students interested in the field an opportunity to see “compliance in action.” Our externs have worked at companies such as Target, Medtronic, Thomson Reuters, U.S. Bank and CHS, Inc.
Professor Hamilton is a founding director of the St. Thomas Holloran Center for Ethical Leadership in the Professions. His scholarship focuses on the formation of both students and practicing professionals into ethical leaders.
Colleen Dorsey is an adjunct faculty member who teaches the compliance externship course. She is the chief ethics and compliance officer at Cognovi Labs.
Professor Michaelson is the Opus Distinguished Professor of Principled Leadership. His work focuses on Business ethics, humanities and business, and meaningful work.
