Whether you’re interested in the financial industry, higher education, health care, workers' compensation, or another compliance or risk management niche, you will graduate prepared for this rewarding, impactful, and intellectually stimulating legal work.
Students at New England Law also benefit from the opportunities afforded by our on-campus Center for Business Law, which provides unique research projects, mentoring, volunteer opportunities, and networking events.
What Do Compliance and Risk Management Lawyers Do?
Compliance and risk management involves the practical implementation of law within organizations, through understanding external rules imposed on an organization and developing policies and mechanisms of internal controls to ensure adherence to these rules. This work spans many substantive areas of law, including financial services, health, education, environmental, information technology, employment, immigration, and even sports.
Compliance lawyers may oversee the development and implementation of internal regulations, represent clients seeking redress for damages suffered through the lack of regulation, or represent organizations and their interests.
“Compliance and risk management has long been a rewarding and in-demand career path. Complying with legal and regulatory requirements at both the federal and state level is critical, and lawyers working in this area are uniquely qualified to combine their analytical and problem-solving skills with an in-depth knowledge of the relevant organizational framework and mission.” —Professor Eric A Lustig, Certificate Program Director
Related: A Look at Compliance—the Best Legal Career You’re Not Considering
Earn a Compliance and Risk Management Certificate
Compliance and Risk Management Courses
This certificate is awarded in conjunction with our JD degree. In addition to their foundational legal coursework, students pursuing a certificate in Compliance and Risk Management can choose among many exciting elective classes to meet their credit requirements. These may include (but are not limited to) the following:
- Administrative Law
- Business Compliance and Human Rights
- Business Organizations
- Corporate Counsel: Risk Management, Governance, and Compliance
- Education and the Law
- Employment Law
- Environmental Law
- Financial Sector Compliance
- Health Care Law
- Hospital Law
- Information Privacy Law
- Insurance Law
- Nonprofit Organizations
- Privacy and Data Protection
- Securities Regulation
- Sports Law
- White Collar Crime
- Workers' Compensation
Experiential Learning Opportunities
Students in our Compliance and Risk Management certificate program must meet an experiential learning requirement. Some of the hands-on learning experiences available to them include:
Corporate Counsel: Risk Management, Governance, and Compliance
Learning Outcomes
When you graduate from New England Law with a certificate in Compliance and Risk Management, you will:
- Be prepared to work in a compliance and/or risk management setting.
- Have hands-on experience related to your professional goals and interests.
- Understand the roles of a lawyer in various compliance and risk management contexts.
- Know your professional and ethical responsibilities to your clients—and appreciate the power of the law and your ability to affect the lives and well-being of others.
- Have strong foundational lawyering skills, such as legal research and analysis, problem-solving, and communicating effectively.
Rochelle Levy is a Director in Compliance at City National Bank. In previous Risk & Compliance roles at BNY Mellon Investment Management, J.P. Morgan Chase and State Street Global Advisors, she oversaw compliance with the Investment Advisers and Investment Company Act, conducting regulatory reviews, due diligence, and controls testing where she presented findings to Boards, senior management, and regulators. After graduating Levy practiced criminal and immigration defense, including white collar criminal defense against the SEC and FINRA.
During law school, Levy took advantage of the clinical law courses and completed internships at the Department of Justice, United Nations, Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, and Immigration Court. She was one of the first members of the Immigration Law Association, was a lead article editor at the New England Journal on Criminal and Civil Confinement, and received the Dean Timothy J. Cronin, Jr. Award, a commencement award that recognizes the student who has shown the greatest promise of making outstanding contributions to public service.
Program Director