The University of Colorado at Boulder Law School

Entrepreneurial Law Clinic

ELC Client Selection Criteria

The Entrepreneurial Law Clinic selects clients on the basis of four criteria:

1. The applicant would otherwise be unlikely to obtain qualified legal advice;
2. The applicant has not received a significant round of outside funding or financing from investors;
3. The applicant’s place of business is within a 60 mile radius of Boulder County (although clients from other areas in Colorado may be accepted as ELC resources and adequate means of communication permit); and
4. The work requested is appropriate for students and presents an interesting educational opportunity.

Clients who do not satisfy each of these standards are selected only under exceptional circumstances. All client selection decisions are subject to ELC staffing availability and are solely with the ELC instructor's discretion.

ELC clients include individual entrepreneurs, start-up companies, students (such as the winners of the CU-Denver BARD Center for Entrepreneurship Business Plan Competition), and entrepreneurs with special needs. The Clinic also assists in the process of commercializing University-developed technology by representing faculty members and companies working with the University’s Technology Transfer Office and provides legal services to members of the local start-up community, such as the Colorado Technology Incubator (CTEK). Typical tasks handled by ELC students include incorporation of entities, registering LLCs' helping develop a strategy for intellectual property protection, drafting or revising organizational documents, and assisting with contracts such as employment and licensing agreements.

Please note that the ELC is educationally oriented and is staffed by second and third year law students who lack the practical legal experience of professional counsel. Supervision is provided by the generous contributions of attorneys from the Boulder office of Hogan & Hartson L.L.P., an international law firm based in Washington, D.C., and the ELC’s lead instructor, Brad Bernthal. The ELC does not charge for its services although clients must pay for costs associated with ELC work (such as, for example, state filing fees for entity formation).

Legal Issues For Which The ELC Does And Does Not Provide Assistance

ELC students interact directly with clients to provide legal advice and other transactional assistance such as drafting documents and researching legal issues.

The ELC provides a variety of types of assistance, including:

• Helping clients decide an effective corporate structure;
• Forming companies;
• Assisting clients in board of director or shareholder matters;
• Drafting contracts and agreements relating to a client's business;
• Advising clients on how to protect their intellectual property;
• Advising clients on how to comply with on going corporate legal requirements; and
• Providing advice on the fundraising process and on corporate finance issues.

The scope and availability of services offered by the ELC is necessarily limited. While the ELC accepts applications throughout the year, the ELC is only staffed and available to assist entrepreneurs during the fall and spring semesters (viz., early September through the end of April). Additionally, please note that the Clinic does not provide legal assistance in the following areas:

• Litigation (or where litigation appears likely);
• Patent searches or applications;
• Pure tax advice;
• Immigration law; and
• Non-profit legal assistance.