THE RUTGERS LAW SCHOOL ENTREPRENEURSHIP CLINIC
The Rutgers Law School Entrepreneurship Clinic provides students in Newark and Camden with hands-on transactional law experience representing non-profit as well as for-profit start-ups on a pro bono publico basis.
It is a virtual law firm, serving clients and giving students both substantive knowledge in areas applicable to entrepreneurial enterprises and skills needed to represent those clients. In the process, it creates linkages with the Greater Newark and Camden entrepreneurial communities that provide further opportunities to promote economic development and job creation. A majority of the Clinic’s clients are minority and/or women-owned.
The Clinic provides counseling and representation on such matters as: pre-venture activities; business planning; entity selection and formation; the negotiation, drafting, and review of agreements; developing management and governance processes; capital structure, valuation and finance; compliance with securities laws and regulations; intellectual property; ongoing entrepreneurial and business activities; particular issues relevant to non-profits; employee management; and community relations. Working in teams under the supervision of faculty members who have decades of experience representing entrepreneurs, students are responsible for establishing and maintaining relationships with their clients; reviewing clients’ business models; drafting or reviewing documents; and researching/developing work plans to meet the clients’ needs.
Here is how one recent client (a speech pathologist) described the Clinic’s representation: “[The Clinic’s two students] have been phenomenal throughout this semester. They clearly have a passion for helping small businesses, as can be seen through their hard work and dedication to supporting our company during a very difficult time in our startup. [My wife] and I are extremely grateful to have them on our team as we try to tackle challenge after challenge throughout our new endeavors. We absolutely could not have built our company without them. I feel indebted both to [the students] for all of their hard work and also to Rutgers for having this clinic available to us.”
If you or your start-up are in need of legal services but lack the resources to pay for a lawyer, please consider applying to the Entrepreneurship Clinic for assistance. Here is the link to the application form: Entrepreneurship Law Clinic @ Rutgers Law School