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John Akula is a Senior Lecturer in Law at the MIT Sloan School of Management, where his primary responsibility is overseeing the business law curriculum. His courses emphasize law-sensitive skills essential for involvement in startups, high-growth firms, and established companies, focusing on the risks and opportunities associated with entrepreneurship and complex financial transactions. Akula earned his doctorate from Harvard University. He has held notable positions including National Science Foundation Pre-Doctoral Fellow and Russell Sage Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow. His research primarily concerns the evolution of effective legal commitments. With a law degree from Harvard, Akula practiced law for 15 years and served as a clerk for a justice on the highest court in Massachusetts. He has been a partner at Herrick & Smith and joined Goodwin Procter, one of the nation's leading law firms, where he became a partner in the business law department. While practicing law, he worked closely with senior managers and boards across various industries, advising on a wide range of legal issues, including significant trade association practices and legislative drafting. In 1991, he transitioned back to academia, initially dividing his time between Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and MIT Sloan before focusing solely on MIT in 2000. Akula is also involved in the school’s executive education programs and international entrepreneurship-related initiatives.