Moritz College of Law | All Rise | More than 100 businesses benefit from legal clinic

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More than 100 businesses benefit from legal clinic

By K E L S EY G I V EN S

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The Ohio State Univers ity Law Sc hool Magazine | Su mm er

dvising corporate clients goes beyond just knowing the letter of

the law. It requires building relationships, knowing the ins and

outs of each clients unique business model, spotting areas of potential

liability, and managing transactions, which all help a business client to
grow and protect its invested and intellectual capital.
Sometimes referred to as soft skills, those abilities arent necessarily
lessons learned from textbooks or the classroom. To really understand
the practice, young lawyers must actually go out and practice. The
Entrepreneurial Business Law Clinic (EBLC) at the Moritz College of Law

gives students the opportunity to hone these legal and practice skills before they even
graduate.
Founded in 2012 through the generous support of donors, the clinic offers 12 students
each semester the opportunity to help startups establish their businesses and put in place
governance and contractual protections needed to advance these new companies.
The students will learn some new things in the academic sessions of the clinic, but
things like interviewing, building client relationships, self-confidence in giving a legal
opinion, how to talk to non-lawyers, collaborating effectively with othersthats what I
hope they really learn how to do, said Professor Lee Thomason, who teaches the clinic.
The goal of this clinic is to increase each students belief that, If I go out to practice
today, I know I can do it, I know what to do, and Im prepared. If the students feel
confident and have improved their lawyering skills interviewing, assessing,

http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/all-rise/2016/08/more-than-100-businesses-benefit-from-legal-cli...

8/19/2016

Moritz College of Law | All Rise | More than 100 businesses benefit from legal clinic

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collaborating, and making solid legal recommendations, then I think the clinical program
has succeeded.
Through the EBLC, third-year students are able to work with real clients that range from
app creators to clothing retailers, cleaning services, mapping technologists,
microbreweries, tech startups, and others to advise them on legal structures and
decisions. The students help entrepreneurs register as LLCs, document initial bylaws and
operating agreements, protect intellectual property, highlight any potential liability
issues, execute contracts, and generally identify the startups most pressing legal needs.
In the four years that the clinic has been open, it has already helped more than 100 clients
lay the groundwork for their businesses. Among those clients is Columbus-based
microbrewery, Land- Grant Brewing Company.
What started as a hobby for Adam Benner while living in Chicago, soon came to be a
passion project for him and his former college roommate and good friend Walt Keys. The
two graduated from The Ohio State University in 2006.
Once we were out of school I moved to New York for a while and he moved to Chicago.
We kept in touch and Adam had caught the homebrew bug pretty bad. With my
background in graphic design and photography, Adams homebrew became both of our
hobbies, Keys explained.
The year was 2012 and, as the two co-founders saw it, Columbus was ripe for a craft
brewery explosion. With only a handful of microbreweries in the area, the two said they
wanted to get in on the ground level of the boom to chase their dream of opening their
own brewery.
To test the validity of their idea, they launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise the initial
capital they would need to start their business. After meeting their fundraising goal, they
realized they needed some additional help getting the proper legal framework in place to
run their brewery successfully. Thats when they turned to the EBLC.
Like with a lot of newer businesses, you have a friend of a friend whos an attorney that
did some of the basic startup stuff, but as we were looking to raise additional
fundingthe Kickstarter was really just kind of a drop in the bucketwe wanted to do it
all by the book, Benner said.
We initially had the students look at some trademark questions and then we also had
them set up our filing and even the distribution agreements that we ended up using as we
raised capital.
Knowing that it would save them a lot of work in the long run setting up everything
correctly from the start, Benner said they were pleased with the work the clinic students
were able to complete.

http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/all-rise/2016/08/more-than-100-businesses-benefit-from-legal-cli...

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Moritz College of Law | All Rise | More than 100 businesses benefit from legal clinic

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Its funny, after we talked with some other folks, I think most people when they try to
raise money, they dont file and do it the right way and they get people who arent
qualified credited investors and that sort of thing. The clinic really helped us out. It saved
us money and allowed us to get started a lot quicker too, Benner said.
That kind of experience is invaluable for graduating law students who hope to enter the
corporate practice upon graduation, said Robert L. Grossman 78, corporate and securities
shareholder and co-chair of the Israel practice at Greenberg Traurig, LLP.
I think one of the biggest problems law firms could have with students coming out of law
school is they often dont have much practical experience. A first- year, second-year
lawyer needs significant training. Being able to do something like this, where students
actually see a real business in operation and help a real business at an early stage, gives
them an understanding that puts them ahead of other recent graduates. It gives them a
practical point of view of what its like to really go out there and work in the world, he
said.
As someone who often works with entrepreneurs and startups, Grossman said he decided
to donate to the College to help fund the creation of the EBLC to not only help startups get
off the ground, but also to give students the chance to learn the skills they need when
dealing with clients in the corporate world.
Greenberg Traurig is a large law firm with about 1,900 lawyers and 38 offices across the
U.S. and worldwide, yet we do a lot of work for middle-market and smaller companies. I
also work regularly with startups and entrepreneurs. I like being involved with startups
and trying to help companies that really need some handholding to get started, so I
thought it was a great idea. When I was asked by Ed Cooperman 67, who has been a client
and a friend, and whom I had a lot of respect for, to donate to the clinic, I thought the
concept made a lot of sense, he explained.
Alec Wightman 75, a partner at BakerHostetler, who has served corporate clients for
more than 35 years, was also one of the founding donors who supported the launch of the
EBLC. He explained that a transactional and counseling clinic was especially beneficial to
both the College and the community.
The entrepreneurial aspect of this, which is helping startups and new businesses, is
really what this is about. New jobs are created in the United States through new
businesses and small businesses, and helping our students and young lawyers have a
hand in starting those is great. It also shouldnt be lost that were talking about the Moritz
College of Law, and Mr. Michel E. Moritz 61 was a partner in our Columbus office for
many years. He was the premiere business lawyer not only in Central Ohio, but a much
broader area as well. Preserving his heritage and supporting what was important to him
was also a factor in creating the clinic, he said.

http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/all-rise/2016/08/more-than-100-businesses-benefit-from-legal-cli...

8/19/2016

Moritz College of Law | All Rise | More than 100 businesses benefit from legal clinic

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The goal of this clinic is to increase each students belief that,

If I go out to practice today, I know I can do it, I know what to
do, and Im prepared. Professor Lee Thomason

Tags: Ed Coop erm an, Greenberg Traurig, Lee Thomaso n, Michel Moritz

http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/all-rise/2016/08/more-than-100-businesses-benefit-from-legal-cli...

8/19/2016