A Legal Clinic for Entrepreneurs

As more people forgo traditional career paths for the chance to start their own companies, they quickly realize that being their own boss means wearing many hats. The CEO of a start-up is often the company’s salesperson, marketer, accountant, and lawyer all in one. Serving this type of client was one of the goals that drove the formation of the Donald Pritzker Entrepreneurship Law Center (DPELC) at the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. The other was the need to prepare law students to serve as transactional lawyer and take on entrepreneurial clients. 

"Our Center tackles projects that may be too complex for a student to pursue on his or her own. Following a law firm model, a senior lawyer guides students through the process, ensuring the same quality one would expect from a top law firm," says Esther Barron, clinical professor of law and director of the DPELC. 

Offering advice on incorporation, contract drafting, and trademark and copyright protection, the DPELC serves clients ranging from brand-new startups eager to reach the marketplace — where students help launch the business from a legal perspective — to larger, established companies with more sophisticated legal needs. Those may include raising additional capital, preparing equity incentive programs for employees, and licensing intellectual property. The Center’s current roster of clients ranges from small traditional businesses to high-tech e-commerce enterprises.

Robbie Salter (Law ’13), who is now a senior vice president at a boutique consulting firm for media, marketing, and technology companies, credits the DPELC for providing him the early experience he would need to be successful in his career today. 

“The resources and team at DPELC helped me apply the theory of entrepreneurial law into the practical, solving real legal challenges for entrepreneurs at different stages seeking counsel,” he says. 

The popularity of the Center and the growing demand for its resources has paved the way for the development of courses for all Northwestern Law students, including a new course called “Innovation Lab.” The course asks students to identify legal problems that can benefit from innovation. They are challenged to develop an understanding of the legal, business, technical, and design skills involved in the innovation process.

Past projects have included a platform to help small business owners with legal questions, a kiosk to help pro se litigants file court documents, a platform to help first-year transactional attorneys at law firms gain experience, and a platform to educate immigrants on legal issues.

“While existing entrepreneurship courses tend to focus on hard skills and how to represent entrepreneurs, this class emphasizes creating an entrepreneurial mindset that will benefit students no matter what career path they choose,” explains Barron.