Clinical Education

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Yale Law School invites applications for an inaugural, full time faculty director for its new Entrepreneurship Clinic. The position, which will be at the rank of Clinical Associate Professor or Clinical Professor of Law, will begin on July 1, 2018.

A key ambition of Yale University is “to provide an unsurpassed campus learning environment that cultivates innovators, leaders, pioneers, creators, and entrepreneurs in all fields and for all sectors of society.” Yale Law School is contributing to that goal by forming a new Entrepreneurship Clinic, which will provide transactional services and related legal advice to individuals or entities seeking to start or expand their own ventures. The Entrepreneurship Clinic is expected to become a central component of the Yale University student innovation ecosystem, which encompasses both curricular programs (such as the Yale School of Management Programs on Entrepreneurship and Social Enterprise), as well as independent, cross disciplinary centers (such as the Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking at Yale). Although it is envisioned that clients for the Entrepreneurship Clinic will come primarily from these programs, there may be opportunities for creating partnerships with the Office of Cooperative Research (which focuses on faculty ventures) and with the greater New Haven entrepreneurial community.…

Clinical Faculty Position
The Ohio State University, Michael E. Moritz College of Law

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Description: The Moritz College of Law invites applications for the position of Assistant Clinical Professor of Law in its Entrepreneurial Business Law Clinic (EBLC), to start in late 2017. The EBLC professor has primary responsibility for directing and teaching the Entrepreneurial Business Law Clinic, which provides third-year law students with the opportunity to learn lawyering skills by representing entrepreneurs and their start-up businesses. EBLC students typically work with clients on all phases of starting a business, including client intake, entity formation, legal business planning, and contract drafting (including employment and independent contractor contracts). When relevant for the client, students also learn how to protect the intellectual property of a business. The EBLC’s clinical professor will have several areas of responsibility, including 1) supervising law students who represent clients under the Ohio Supreme Court’s student practice rule 2) classroom teaching of lawyering skills, 3) engaging with the local and regional entrepreneurial community, and 4) participating in the life and governance of the College of Law.

We will consider all applicants; however, we prefer candidates with significant…

I recently updated my list of business law teaching positions. At this point, a number of the positions have probably been filled, but I put posted dates by the more recently posted positions. I still get asked, on a fairly regularly basis, about how one breaks into law teaching, and while I do have thoughts on that topic (basically, write, write, write), I think folks wanting to enter the legal academy should ask themselves a few questions first. 

  1. Are you truly drawn to both teaching and research (or are you just tired of practicing)?
  2. Are you geographically flexible? (You have to be both really good and really lucky to pick your geographic location in legal academia)
  3. Do you have a few years to devote to pursuing a career in legal academia? (these days, it often takes a VAP or two, and/or a few years on the market to secure an academic job).
  4. If you are in BigLaw, are you truly comfortable with a sizable pay cut?
  5. Can you be patient with students, administrators, staff, etc.? (things typically move much more slowly in academia than in practice)

Once you have received one of more offers, I would ask the following…

Today, I received the position announcement below from my friend Alicia Plerhoples (Georgetown), who is doing exciting things in the social enterprise and nonprofit areas. This is an excellent opportunity, and I think anyone would be fortunate to work with her and her clinic. 

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Georgetown University Law Center –
Graduate Teaching Fellowship, Social Enterprise & Nonprofit Law Clinic

Description of the Clinic

The Social Enterprise & Nonprofit Law Clinic at Georgetown University Law Center offers pro bono corporate and transactional legal services to social enterprises, nonprofit organizations, and select small businesses headquartered in Washington, D.C. and working locally or internationally. Through the Clinic, law students learn to translate theory into practice by engaging in the supervised practice of law for educational credit. The Clinic’s goals are consistent with Georgetown University’s long tradition of public service. The Clinic’s goals are to:

  • Teach law students the materials, expectations, strategies, and methods of transactional lawyering, as well as an appreciation for how transactional law can be used in the public interest.

  • Represent social enterprises and nonprofit organizations in corporate and transactional legal matters.

  • Facilitate the growth of social enterprise in the D.C. area.

    The clinic’s local focus not only allows the

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Anne_Anderson_(cropped)

A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of attending a luncheon talk by Anne Anderson, Ireland’s Ambassador to the United States. Ambassador Anderson covered a range of topics, including Ireland’s place in and commitment to the EU, the financial and political situation in the EU, and Ireland’s success in attracting international businesses. 

At Belmont, we require our undergraduate students to attend 60 hours worth of campus talks/presentations/workshops over their four years. When I first heard about this requirement, I must admit that I thought it a bit paternalistic. But looking back on my college experience, I do wish I would have been nudged (or even required) to attend more of the wonderful talks that took place on campus. To be clear, our students get to choose which talks they attend and there are many options. 

While I have come around on these requirements for undergraduates, I am not sure if I would require campus talk attendance of law students — to my knowledge we don’t. Given that graduate students are, or should be, more mature, I don’t think I would require them to attend campus talks, but I might give them some sort of certificate if they attended a certain number.

Somewhat similarly…

Last week was the oral midterm examination week for students in my in Business Associations class.  I admit to exhaustion and jubilation at the end of that week every year.  I think the students feel about the same way . . . .

This year’s examination related to an expulsion of members in a member-managed limited liability company (LLC).  The facts were based on an interesting Tennessee case with which many LLC aficionados are no doubt familiar: Anderson v. Wilder.  The exam questions related to the validity and effects of the expulsion under the Revised Uniform Limited Liability Company Act and the LLC’s operating agreement, the potential breaches of fiduciary duty and failure to comply with the contractual obligation of good faith and fair dealing, and the possible resulting causes of action and remedies–including any effects of the members’ dissociation.

In a blog post last weekend from Lou Sirico and our other friends at the Legal Skills Prof Blog, I divined support for all of us who engage in practice-focused legal education: these teaching/learning methods can help students to thrive, not merely survive.  It has been my (admittedly anecdotal) observation that students who engage in simulations (as well as those who participate in clinics and internships/externships) in law school are happier and more well-adjusted about their education and their post-graduation employment.  Last week’s oral midterms–conducted in groups of three–gave me some windows on that world.  I will share a few here.