Laura Hollis

Laura Hirschfeld Hollis is a native of Champaign, Illinois. She received her undergraduate degree in English and her law degree from the University of Notre Dame. She is a Professor of Teaching in the Department of Accountancy, and has taught courses in business law, entrepreneurship, sales and management in Mendoza, as well as entrepreneurship and public policy at the Notre Dame Law School.

Professor Hollis’ career as an attorney has spanned almost 40 years, the first five of which were in general litigation practice, entertainment law and copyright administration, and the past 35 of which have been in higher education. She has taught law at the graduate and undergraduate levels, and has 25 years’ experience in the development and delivery of courses, seminars and workshops in entrepreneurship and law for multiple audiences. Professor Hollis began her academic career at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, where she was a tenured professor of law, teaching civil procedure and the law of business associations. She received the award for Outstanding Faculty Contribution in 1994, was chosen “Professor of the Year” in 1994and 1996, and was the recipient of the James E. Barnes Award for Outstanding Faculty Scholarship in 1998. She later served as visiting professor of law at Michigan State University Law School, where she taught courses in federal courts and federal jurisdiction.

She spent ten years as a founding administrator and faculty member with the Technology Entrepreneur Center in the College of Engineering and the Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership in the Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois, where she was on the campus’ “List of Teachers Rated ‘Excellent’” 2002 through 2010, and was the recipient of the Gamma Epsilon Award for Excellence in Teaching in the Department of Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering in 2005.

Prior to her current position, she served as Director of the Gigot Center for Entrepreneurship at Mendoza. Since joining the faculty, Professor Hollis has served as faculty advisor to the Irish Rover, and currently serves on the University Faculty Senate representing the Accountancy Department. She is presently the Director of Undergraduate Students for Mendoza’s Foundations of Business minor offered to non-business undergraduates.

Professor Hollis’ scholarly interests include entrepreneurship and public policy, economic development, technology commercialization and general business law. Her legal scholarship has been published in the Temple Law Review, Cardozo Law Review and the Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy. She has been a freelance political writer since 1993, and a syndicated columnist with Creators Syndicate since 2014. Her work appears in online and print media across the country. She is a frequent public speaker on political, social and cultural issues.

Professor Hollis has served as a board member and recent past Board President for the St. Vincent de Paul Society of St. Joseph County. She is married to Jess Hollis, a musician, commercial voiceover artist and on-air radio personality. They have two grown children, Alistair and Celeste.