University of Utah : S.J. Quinney College of Law

Technology Expert Chahine to Serve as Visiting Professor

Posted: 5 May 2009 by Barry Scholl
Updated on: 6 May 2009

Tags: Ken Chahine CEO-in-Residence Hiram Chodosh New Ventures Clinic 

May 5, 2009 — Kenneth Chahine, who has served as CEO-in-Residence at the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law for the past two years, will become a visiting professor of law during the 2009-2010 year, Dean Hiram Chodosh announced today.

“Ken has taught here at the College of Law as an auxiliary professor for the past two years, and in that short time has built one of the most exciting transactional clinics in the country,” said Chodosh.  “The students and faculty here are very much looking forward to his expanded contributions in the fields of intellectual property, healthcare, business, and technology.”

As Visiting Professor and CEO-in-Residence, Chahine will continue to teach the New Ventures course and oversee the New Ventures Clinic as well as teach an intellectual property survey class.  He will also be working on health law initiatives with Professor Leslie Francis and others.

Chahine explained that several factors convinced him to become more involved, including  “the complementary expertise of colleagues, the interest in studying pressing issues in healthcare, especially genetics and personalized medicine, and the vision for how to train the next generation of lawyers.  The U is uniquely positioned to lead in the field of genetics and personalized health,” he continued.  “The willingness to take an interdisciplinary research approach to better define the issues and offer solutions with the potential to impact healthcare at the local, national, and international level drives a large part of my interest in the College of Law.“

Chahine received a Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of Michigan in 1992 and a J.D. from the University of Utah in 1996. For thirteen years, he worked in the biotechnology industry, most recently spending five years as the CEO of Avigen, a California-based pharmaceutical company.  He believes that his years in the corporate world provided valuable insight into the relationship between theory and practice, and he plans to apply those lessons to his teaching: “Apart from experiencing first-hand nearly every facet of running a public company, working at Avigen has given me an appreciation for how legal and business can effectively collaborate to maximize the value of the enterprise.  By understanding the business lexicon and objectives, attorneys are not only in a better position to identify issues, but importantly, to offer creative solutions.”

The New Ventures Clinic , which Chahine developed and will continue to oversee, allows students to experience the legal and business analysis involved in launching a technology-based venture and provides opportunities to work collaboratively with inventors, MBA students, licensing managers, and venture capitalists.  Clinic students may work with the University’s Technology Commercialization Office seeking intellectual property protection for University inventions and beginning the process for their commercialization; the University’s Pierre Lassonde Entrepreneur Center to prepare a business plan on select University technologies; or with the UVenture Fund, a private equity fund in which law students join College of Business students to perform due diligence on innovative start-ups and determine whether to invest the UVenture fund’s capital.  The $18 million fund is the only venture capital fund in the country managed by students. As part of a larger three-person team at the U, Charity Williams, a law student who trained in the clinic for two years, recently won the life sciences grant prize from the national Carnegie Mellon McGinnis Venture Competition, sharing a cash prize of $20,000 and $20,000 of in-kind services.