Campbell University law school dean Rich Leonard is considering creating a legal clinic where students would assist small businesses with legal issues. This type of work can be pro bono, and it would help various small business, low-income individuals, or public interest non-profits. Examples of things that the potential legal clinic’s students may assist with are licensing issues, or the legal support needed in trying to “keep a particular watershed pollution-free” according to bizjournals.com.
Most other universities have clinics that are exposed to the needs of juveniles or the elderly. Legal clinics that are focused on small businesses are rather rare. Duke University, UNC, NCU and Elon University for example have clinics, but none are focused on this area. There is certainly an imbalance in apparent needs of low-income businesses and law student clinics. Some cite nervousness on the part of business owners who may fear relying on students for legal advice. Yet the experience that law students gain is extremely valuable as they will be able to utilize what they learn later down the road.
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Dean Leonard has several clinics in mind, and the small-business clinic is only one of the new ways in which students can get hands on legal experience that adds to their resume as well as their skill set, furthering them as they seek to advance in the legal world.
Actually, there are many such clinics around the country, including one at our school which is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. My colleague, Tony Luppino at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) School of Law has worked with the Kauffman Foundation and a group of law professors to catalog those clinics. The result can be found at http://www.entrepreneurship.org/en/entrepreneurship-law/law-school-entrepreneurship-clinics.aspx. There is also a section on advice for beginning such a clinic. See http://www.entrepreneurship.org/en/Entrepreneurship-Law/Topic-Overviews/Operating-Clinics-Overview.aspx. It’s always good to see other schools getting behind these kinds of effoerts.