Minnesota Multi-Profession Business Law Clinic

Course Description:

The Minnesota Multi-Profession Business Law Clinic is a two-semester, 6-credit experience for 3Ls. Students enrolled in the clinic the have the opportunity to gain broad transactional 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.

The delivery model is different from other clinics at the law school in several respects. Typically, law school clinic clients need assistance to resolve a dispute with another person or a government entity. Dispute resolution is not a part of clinic practice in the Minnesota Multi-Profession Business Law Clinic. As participants in this multi-profession clinic, students work with attorneys, accountants, 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 and accounting firms supervise teams of law students working with clients who apply for clinic services.

The 42-hour transactional skills curriculum component of the clinic includes extensive practice in negotiation and drafting, as well as self-assessments of problem solving and communication styles. The curriculum also includes segments on client interviewing and negotiation ethics. Students are encouraged to learn about themselves as practitioners.

Please note: Students who take Professor Alton’s Transactional Lawyering Skills class in the summer may not enroll in the clinic because the curriculum component of this class is identical to the clinic curriculum.

The Minnesota Multi-Profession Business Law Clinic is a program component of the Center for Business Law and Entrepreneurship.
 

Course Number: 7-860

Credits: 3F 3S

Prerequisites: BA/Corps

Satisfies Senior Writing Requirement: No