Business Law – 7860

Fall 2012
* Multi-semester course
Mary Alton

The Business Law Clinic is a two-semester 6-credit experience for 3Ls who have taken Business Associations - Corps. Students enrolled in the clinic gain broad experience working with startup businesses and entrepreneurial clients. Students work with clients whose legal needs are transactional. Transactional practice includes the creation and interpretation of contracts and agreements. It also includes strategizing about legal issues of business formation, management, and governance. Dispute resolution and adversary process are not parts of clinic practice in the Business Law Clinic. The delivery model is different in several respects from other clinics at the law school. As participants in this clinic, students work with supervising attorneys and business consultants. This aspect of clinic practice closely replicates the practice of business law. Experienced business law and corporate group attorneys from several law firms supervise teams of law students working with clients who apply for clinic services.

There is a 42-hour transactional skills curriculum component of the clinic, which includes two hours per week of classroom instruction in each of the fall and spring semesters, with a possibility students will be asked to attend four hours of class weekly during October. The clinic includes extensive practice in client interviewing, engagement, counseling, transactional law, entity creation, contract drafting, and negotiation. Focus will be on problem-solving, communication and communication styles, professionalism, and ethics. There are several written assignments and classroom role-playing and simulations. Enrollment in the clinic is by lottery and limited to 20 students (3Ls only). The Business Law Clinic is a program component of the Corporate Institute.