Where Science Meets Law: A Faculty Journey to the MSL Program

The beginning of the academic year is always a time of great anticipation, for both students and faculty. That’s especially true for Distinguished Senior Lecturer Jeffrey Carter-Johnson as he enters his fourth year of MSL teaching and reflects on his role of guiding new MSL students along a path he knows intimately—one that bridges science and law.

Carter-Johnson teaches an array of courses in both the residential and online MSL formats, including Contract Law and Intellectual Property Fundamentals. But he didn’t begin his career expecting to become a law professor: his first love was science. After earning his PhD in microbiology at the University of Virginia, he embarked on research focused on how viruses replicate and interact with cells, and how they might be engineered as tools for gene therapy.

As his research progressed, Carter-Johnson regularly found himself facing unexpected challenges that weren’t purely scientific. Licensing agreements accompanied research materials, but the legal obligations within those contracts were hard to decipher. Questions about patent rights loomed, as more and more discoveries emerged from industry rather than academia. University policies required researchers to disclose inventions, but the rules around what counted as “patentable” were often unclear.

“All of those things kept coming up, and I realized that law and regulation are a huge part of research and technology,” he recalled. “And I didn’t know anything about the law.”

While today’s students can turn to the MSL program for training at precisely this intersection of STEM, law and business, when Carter-Johnson faced those questions, the MSL (and legal master’s programs in general) didn’t exist. The only path forward was a JD. Carter-Johnson enrolled in law school, earned his JD degree, and began practicing in the areas of intellectual property and licensing. His time in practice was relatively short, before academia drew him back.

“Once an academic, always an academic,” he laughed. Teaching gave him the chance to return to a research agenda while also exploring how the law shapes innovation. He taught in programs focused on food regulation and intellectual property before eventually joining the faculty at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, where he found a home aligned with his interdisciplinary background.

Looking back, one might think that Carter-Johnson’s professional life could be viewed as two separate careers—one in science, the other in law. Yet Carter-Johnson sees it differently. “I don’t think I had a science career and then a law career,” he said. “I think it’s all one continuum. Science and law were never separate; they’ve always been intertwined.”

That perspective is exactly what makes JCJ (let’s face it—you all call him this) such a valuable professor in the MSL program. Many students begin their MSL journeys much as he did—deeply rooted in STEM fields—only to discover that law and regulation are intimately connected with their work. Carter-Johnson understands these challenges from the outset and can help students see that their law study doesn’t mark a departure from science, but rather an expansion of it.

He also understands the mindset shift required for students moving from STEM into legal thinking. “STEM students tend to be very driven to get to ‘the answer,’” he explained. “But law doesn’t always work like that. It’s fuzzier—there are multiple answers, and some are better than others. Once students realize that, their ability to analyze really helps them in the study of law.”

Carter-Johnson is happy to teach eager new students and to welcome them to the study of law. For him, the MSL program is about helping students discover the value of becoming ‘hybrid’ professionals—individuals who can speak both the language of science and the language of law.

“These are students who will go on to make a real impact,” he said. “They’ll be in corporations, in startups, in the C-suite. Some of them already are. What makes them so powerful is their ability to bring both their STEM expertise and their legal knowledge into the room.”

JCJ’s message to MSL students is clear: the boundaries between science, law, and business should not be seen as barriers but as bridges. His own career proves that navigating those bridges can open doors to innovation and leadership.