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“It is a privilege to work closely with the clients and to help their company grow. I most enjoy the rapport we’ve built with the clients and advising them as they navigate the company through its formative phase." ~Previous clinic participant
Clinic Goals
The Entrepreneurship Law Clinic (ELC) is Cornell Law School’s only transactional law clinic. By fostering entrepreneurship and innovation within Cornell and in the Ithaca area more broadly, the clinic contributes both to the commercialization of Cornell’s research and to regional community economic development.
Beginning in fall 2024, as part of the Blassberg-Rice Center for Entrepreneurship Law, the ELC will expand its work by opening a new space at the Cornell Tech campus in New York City. This will be the Law School’s first clinic in the city.
In the course of their client work, students in the clinic gain exposure to the following areas of law:
- Business entity selection and formation
- Equity allocation among founders and early hires
- Hiring and employment matters
- Intellectual property protection
- Commercial contracts
- Other general corporate and transactional matters
Many students in the Entrepreneurship Law Clinic work with their clients for multiple semesters, developing strong professional relationships, and learning key professional skills.
Community Presentations
- Legal Issues Around Reopening During COVID-19, Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce Webinar, June 4, 2020
- Strategies for Infection Control and Legalities of Employment Issues Secondary to COVID-19
- Bankruptcy Considerations for Businesses During COVID-19, Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce Webinar, April 24, 2020
In fall 2023, students in the clinic gave a presentation on basic start-up structure to Big Red Ventures, a Cornell venture fund that’s operated by students in the Johnson Graduate School of Management.
Filmmaker and Ithaca resident Lizzy Barrett (on the right) with others at the premiere of her film, “Divisible,” in fall 2023. Finalizing, promoting, and bringing the film to screens involved a host of legal tasks. The Entrepreneurship Clinic advised Barrett on copyright issues, trademarks, and branding; set up fiscal sponsorships; and drafted contracts. After initial work on the project, the clinic also brought in the First Amendment Clinic for a comprehensive pre-production review of the film footage to identify and work through any potential copyright issues.
Entrepreneurship Law Clinic students enjoy the view from the Cornell Tech campus during the 2022 annual Eclectic Convergence conference sponsored by Entrepreneurship@Cornell.
The owners of Lev Kitchen (from left, Benjamin Plotke and Jiayan Wu) worked with the clinic in the spring of 2021 on the purchase of the leasehold for the Lev Kitchen space. Once they secured the physical space, the clinic pivoted to helping the couple create a business structure that has the flexibility to expand once Lev Kitchen opens additional locations across the United States. Clinic students helped sort through the regulations and permits required for the business, advised on employment law issues and created employment contracts for the team, and sought federal trademark protection for Lev Kitchen.
Clinic doodle Molly (right) has participated in the Entrepreneurship Law Clinic for ten consecutive semesters now. Somehow she never seems to graduate, but she’s a pro at startup law.
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Student Testimonials
“Thank you so much for your clinic. I just started my first real week in the firm and everything I’m doing relates in one way or another to the clinic.”
“It is a privilege to work closely with the clients and to help their company grow. I most enjoy the rapport we’ve built with the clients and advising them as they navigate the company through its formative phase. It’s only been a month, and I’ve already learned so much from being part of the clinic! I plan to enroll in additional business and law courses related to start-ups and financing.”
“Often, a client comes up with an idea, and my first thought is that it won’t work with the existing law. What I’ve discovered is that, instead of just saying no to the client, if I go and take that idea, and try to find out what the goal behind the idea is . . . I can often discover another way of being able to accomplish that goal. . . . Instead of saying no, I’m learning to find ways of saying ‘What if?’”
“It is hard to put into words just how much I enjoy the entrepreneurship clinic . . . It is so great to have an environment where we get to learn so much practical training and have a lot of fun doing it.”
“Great clinic – got a lot of good practical experience in managing clients.”
“Fantastic clinic. It was my first experience working with clients directly and the professor was immensely helpful in preparing us to do so.”
Prospective Clients
The Entrepreneurship Law Clinic has limited capacity and can only represent a limited number of clients at any given time. As a result, the Entrepreneurship Law Clinic is not able to accept all prospective clients who apply for the clinic’s services.
If you are interested in becoming a client of the clinic, please complete and submit our online application form. We review applications and accept new clients on a periodic basis. We may contact you after we receive your application to ask you additional questions before determining whether to accept you as a client.
Your legal needs must fall within the scope of the legal services that the clinic provides. For example, the clinic does not provide advice on contentious matters, such as mediation, arbitration, or litigation, and does not prepare or file patent applications.