Entrepreneurship Clinic
Small Business & Entrepreneurship Clinic
Directed by Associate Professor John Flynn, the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Clinic is a law office that provides business-related legal services to entrepreneurs and small business owners who would not otherwise be able to afford legal representation.
Students participating in the clinic develop analytical, planning, editorial and counseling skills in the context of client projects and reality-grounded class work. Services provided by the clinic include, but are not limited to, choice of entity advising, organizational document drafting and review, contract review and drafting, employment and human resource advising, regulatory compliance and drafting financing documentation.
The primary purposes of the course are to help students develop the skills they will need to represent clients successfully and ethically once they enter the practice of law. As such, the SBEC is designed to provide interested law students with an opportunity to develop a number of practice skills related to: (1) general legal counseling, (2) choice of entity advising, (3) organizational document drafting and review, (4) N.C. Secretary of State compliance, (5) contract review and drafting, (6) employment and H.R. advising, (7) regulatory compliance, (8) financing documentation, and (9) dealing with issues of professional responsibility which arise in the course of solving clients’ problems.
To be eligible for the clinic, students must have completed all of the first-year requirements and have undertaken Professional Responsibility and Business Associations. Business Drafting, though not required, is strongly encouraged. Students are required to apply for NC State Bar Limited Practice Certification.
Clinic Hours: Students are expected to complete 130 hours of clinic work during the semester which time includes class meetings, firm meetings, client meetings, drafting, administrative office work, and other tasks assigned by the professor.
For news and information of interest to clients, small business owners, and local entrepreneurs, follow the SBEC’s student-run blog here.