Emily Underwood

Emily Underwood is an associate clinical professor and the Bluhm-Helfand director of the Innovation Clinic. In addition to counseling start-ups and venture capital firms on transactional and regulatory matters in the Innovation Clinic, Asst. Prof. Underwood serves the George Shultz Innovation Fund, a multi-million-dollar fund established from the University’s endowment, as well as its portfolio companies, in structuring investments and managing regulatory and legal issues. She is also one of the supervisors of the Innovation Fund Associates program, an interdisciplinary group of students and post-docs from across all University divisions that aids the George Shultz Innovation Fund by performing due diligence on innovative ventures coming out of the University ecosystem. Asst. Prof. Underwood also teaches a summer intensive seminar on contract drafting principles.

Prior to joining the clinical faculty, Ms. Underwood practiced as an associate in the Corporate group of Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP in Chicago, where she focused on sports law and general corporate matters, and prior to that, as an associate in the Insurance and Financial Services Group at Sidley Austin LLP in Chicago, where she focused on mergers and acquisitions, structured financing and regulatory matters in the insurance industry.