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Entrepreneurship Law Clinic (B561)

This capstone experience, jointly sponsored by the IU Kelley School of Business and Indiana Law, gives third-year law students and joint degree students the unique opportunity to assist start up high-growth potential ventures with legal issues including financial planning, organization, licenses, agreements, regulatory and zoning compliance, and intellectual property matters.

"Law firms around the nation are seeking more graduates with transactional law experience. JD/MBA's are increasingly valued by employers," Mark Need, JD'92, Elmore Entrepreneurship Law Clinic director, says.

What is the Elmore Entrepreneurship Law Clinic?

With offices in both the Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation in the Kelley School of Business and in the Law School's Lewis Building, the clinic is tightly connected to both schools, both physically and in its curriculum. In many ways, the clinic operates as a small, business-focused law firm. Located in the Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation in the Kelley School of Business, the clinic provides business planning and legal services. In this context, Mark Need, the clinic director, serves simultaneously as the supervising attorney and managing partner.

EELC students, primarily fourth-year JD/MBA candidates, work in teams on actual business formation, planning and strategy issues in a multi-disciplinary setting. Exposure to the practical legal and business realities of start-up and early-stage businesses, and opportunities for active participation in the legal and business challenges facing such companies are two of the course's main objectives.

How did the EELC begin?

Two years ago, students in the JD/MBA program lobbied for a transitional clinic that would provide hands-on experience working with early-stage, growth-oriented businesses. Business and Law Society students conducted research and prepared a proposal. The Law School accepted the proposal, and the Lilly Endowment gave the Clinic its initial funding, through a two year grant that was part of the Endowment's Initiative to Promote Opportunity through Educational Collaborations.

According to Corey Zarse, JD'06,and one of the students who helped prepare the proposal, the clinic was needed to provide students more exposure to business clients and business issues while still helping the community. "It gives students practical experience they can use and rely on when they start their careers as corporate attorneys or entrepreneurial attorneys," he said.

What skills will I develop?

In addition to creating entrepreneurial excitement among students at Indiana Law and IU's Kelley School of Business and leveraging IU's interdisciplinary resources to further economic opportunities in Indiana, the ELC works to give students the skills needed to be successful professionals. Students obtain permits and licenses; research and register intellectual property rights; negotiate contracts and leases; advise on appropriate business form; and draft necessary formation documents. ELC students also draw on the resources and expertise of the Kelley School of Business's Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship while participating in the evaluation, development, and financing of new ventures.

What types of clients does the clinic serve?

Students in the MBA/JD program will work in teams, under the supervision of an experienced businessperson and lawyer, to provide appropriate advice to entrepreneurs who otherwise might not be able to afford it. The goal of this advice is for the businesses to become operational and sustainable.

Projects tackled by the EELC in 2005 06 ranged from stem cell patent mapping to drafting business plans concerning the use of cell phone technology for medical records to the study of the application of rural Wi Fi technology to not for profit e health initiatives.

Clients hail from both Bloomington and Indianapolis, many from the life sciences and information technology fields. The EELC also partners with companies affiliated with the Indiana University Research & Technology Corporation (IURTC); inVenture, a business incubator and entrepreneurial service center at the Bloomington based Indiana University Research Park; the Growth 100, a program that recognizes the fastest growing privately held firms in Indiana; and the Venture Research & Solutions Lab, a program of the Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship that assists IU faculty scientists in accelerating the commercialization of their research in life sciences and information technology.

What is the time commitment?

Students will meet for class one hour each week, and with the Director in groups or individually for an additional hour each week to review experiences and concerns regarding client matters with which they are involved. Students will also be expected to spend one full day (or two half days) each week working on client matters. Occasional travel to Indianapolis may also be required.

Clinical Faculty:

Mark Need, Clinical Associate Professor of Law and EELC Director

I want to be a part of this...

Here's what you need to know to participate in the Entrepreneurship Law Clinic (B561):

• Enrollment is limited to eight students.

• This clinic is a year-long commitment. Participating students receive three credits per semester.

• While the clinic is designed primarily for JD/MBA students, JD students who have completed the course prerequisites may also participate.

• Prerequisites for participation in the clinic include: Corporations, Corporate Taxation, and Business Planning, or their equivalents. Per Indiana Supreme Court Rules, students participating in the Clinic must also have completed or be in enrolled in a Professional Responsibility course.

• Students must obtain permission from Mark Need, clinic director, before enrolling.