Community Organization and Social Enterprise Clinic I

Assisting startup and developing community organizations and social enterprises to create a legal/business structure starts as a collaboration with the client to develop or refine their goals and strategies, to help determine what structure is appropriate, drafting the formation documents consistent with their values, and providing materials and support to ensure that the work is sustainable over time. This clinic teaches both the strategic and the drafting aspects of social enterprise lawyering. The clinic prioritizes work that advances equity and/or supports members of marginalized communities. (Go to the enrollment form at this link to review current/proposed projects: https://forms.gle/dkVn7EeFXt6zh1Ma8.) The clinic is available in both the Fall and the Spring, and students may take either or both semesters of the clinic, in any order. There are no prerequisites, but students may find Corporations, Nonprofit Organizations, or similar courses to be helpful background. In the Fall semester (Clinic I), student teams collaborate with social entrepreneurs and community organizations to develop a strategy to bring their ideas for change to fruition. Clinic teams learn and apply leadership and planning skills to help local activists and organizations develop and refine their goals for social impact; research and synthesize data, best practices, and strategies that successful organizations use to achieve those goals; provide legal advice and information related to those goals; and recommend initiatives and an appropriate legal structure as a vehicle for their work. Each project culminates in a final presentation of research, recommendations, and next steps to the client, with supporting deliverables, in the last week of the semester. Students may also (or alternatively) elect to take the Spring semester (Clinic II – LAW 8672), in which student teams work with clients to execute their strategies and draft associated legal documents.