adding economic justice to a social justice teaching agenda: the role of clinics representing...
TRANSCRIPT
Adding Economic Justice to a Social Justice Teaching Agenda: The Role of Clinics Representing Non-Profits, Microenterprises and Social Enterprises
Barbara Schatz Susan JonesColumbia Law School George Washington University Law School University Law School
GAJE 7th Worldwide ConferenceSonipat, India December 2013
Plan for our session
What is an entrepreneurship clinic?
Why is entrepreneurship important?
Why teach an entrepreneurship clinic?
What are the challenges of an entrepreneurship clinic?
How would an entrepreneurship clinic work in your environment?
What is an Entrepreneurship Clinic?
Who are the clients?
non-profit organizations
microenterprises
social entrepreneurs
incubators
arts organizations
What is an Entrepreneurship Clinic?
What services does the clinic provide?
Free, non-litigation legal services (or advice only)
Education for entrepreneurs Policy analysis and advocacy Business resources through
partnerships and referrals
Microenterprises
Harlem dessert company
Makes and sells healthy desserts to Harlem stores and restaurants
“Incubated” by Hot Bread Kitchen which helps low-income and foreign women break into the food industry and educates New Yorkers about the contributions of immigrant communities
Students helped client avoid trademark litigation over the name of her business
Social Enterprises
Tutoring Business
Helps low-income students prepare for college entrance exams
Fees from higher income students help subsidize services to low-income kids
Clinic students formed a legal entity, advised on employment issues and drafted contract between the business and its tutors
Social Enterprises
Aquaponics business Developing aquaponic facilities in NYC to
produce fresh food and distribute some at a discount to low-income New Yorkers
Students counseled business on tax and governance issues and drafted operating agreement
Non-Profit Organizations
Residents Associations of Public Housing Projects
Students helped associations to form legal entities with tax benefits to permit better services to their low-income residents and communities
Students worked with associations to improve governance
Community Legal Education and Policy Work
Community Legal Education Workshops for microenterprises and non-profits Manuals for microenterprises and non-profits
Policy Work Conference: Barriers to Microenterprise Advocacy to improve law and regulations governing
non-profits Action Research
Action Research
The Workplace DC
Why is Entrepreneurship Important?
Small businesses create jobs Entrepreneurship = gateway to work for
those without formal education Entrepreneurship = income for those who
can’t find jobs Component of a workforce development
plan Technological advances fuel
entrepreneurship
Why is Entrepreneurship Important?
o Entrepreneurship and community economic developmento Community economic development is “the creation or
strengthening of economic institutions that are controlled or owned by the residents of the low-income community in which they are located…that will
• attract outside capital into the area • improve the physical environment • increase job and entrepreneurial opportunities for residents • provide or encourage others to provide more accessible services and goods to residents •…create conditions under which the community can participate in the economic advantages of the rest of society. “
Why Teach an Entrepreneurship Clinic?
Promote Economic Justice
o Through free legal assistance, community education, policy analysis and advocacy:
o help low-income people and others who are out of the economic mainstream to start and operate businesses
o help non-profits and social enterprises which provide resources to low-income individuals and communities to start-up and thrive
Why teach an Entrepreneurship Clinic?
Students Learn Unique Skills and Values
Interview and counsel organizations rather than individuals
Represent clients in a planning/transactional context
Learn what it takes to grow a business or non-profit
Draft corporate documents and contracts Negotiate transactions Collaborate with business, finance, management
professionals Observe and analyze the role of entrepreneurship
in promoting economic justice
Why teach an Entrepreneurship Clinic?
Meet student needs and interests Prepare students for:
o careers representing enterpriseso pro bono work and board serviceo careers as entrepreneurso entrepreneurial approach to law practice
Form professional identityo Show career paths that are not black and white –
business law work that promotes social justiceo Show variety of lawyering roles when
representing enterprises
Issues and Challenges
Setting priorities
o Who sets them? o Eclectic or focused?o Mission driven or responses to requests?
Establishing criteria for choosing clients and defining scope of work
Issues and Challenges
Possible Criteria:o Inability to afford legal services?o Contribution to economic justice?o Likelihood of success?o Need for the service or product?o Business plan? Sources of non-legal help?o Availability of other pro bono services?o Student interest?o Pedagogical value?o Clinic’s competence to handle the matter?o Work which students can complete within the
semester or year?
Entrepreneurship Clinics Worldwide
United States o Currently 145 entrepreneurship clinics at US law schools
United Kingdomo Northumbria University, Newcastle-on-Tyne o Queen Mary University of London o University of South Wales, Pontypridd
Georgiao Free University (FreeUni), Tbilisi
Croatiao Josip Juraj Strossmayer University, Osijek
I-LinkOthers?
How would an entrepreneurship clinic work in your environment?
Quick write :
Would an entrepreneurship clinic be feasible and useful your environment? What issues do you anticipate?
Details and Resources
Small Business and Community Economic Development Clinic, George Washington University Law Schoolo Small Business & Community Economic Development Clinic- Law 6621
Professor Susan Jones, Director Professor Kevin Peska, Adjunct Professor Alice Hamilton Evert, Visiting Associate (Fellowship) 8-10 Students
o Eligibility Open to 2nd and 3rd year students Prerequisites: Law 6250 (Corporations) and Law 6300 (Federal Income Tax) Recommended: Law 6472 (Copyright), Law 6474 (Unfair Competition &
Trademark Law), and 6314 (Nonprofit Organizations: Law and Taxation)o Credit hours/duration
Students may enroll for 4, 5, or 6 creditso 4 Credits- 16 hours per week 208 hours/semestero 5 credits- 20 hours per week 260 hours/semestero 6 credits- 24 hours per week 312 hours/ semestero One semester clinic
Details and Resources
Small Business and Community Economic Development Clinic, George Washington University Law Schoolo Grading Method
o This clinic is graded on an H, P, LP, or NC basico Weekly Seminar
o Wednesday, 1:40-3:40pm (2 hours)o Other Course Requirements
o Students of the Week (SOW)-intake new clientso Weekly case supervision meetingso Maintain weekly time sheetso Case team meetingso Learning goalso Small Business Education
o Exampleso The New DC Nonprofit Code, DC Bar Pro Bono Programo Enterprise Community Partners Faith Based Community
Initiative
Details and Resources
Community Enterprise Clinic of Columbia Law School
Professor: Barbara A. Schatz Two semestersCredits: 7 credits in fall, 4-6 credits in spring (student option)Enrollment: 8 students Class meeting time: Tuesday 4:20 to 6:10 PM and Thursday 3:00 to 5:50 PMGrading: Students may choose to be graded CR/F or with a letter grade.
Goals: The goal of this clinic is to help students to become effective and ethical lawyers by providing high quality transactional representation to non-profits, microenterprises and social enterprises. An additional aspect of the Clinic involves helping students to achieve personal goals related to becoming professionals, e.g., improving time-management; learning to collaborate with a partner; improving ability to work with people of different age, sex, race or economic status; learning how to enjoy working as a lawyer.
Cases and Projects
Non-profits - community groups, international organizations and arts organizations, both start-ups and mature organizations. Typical projects o helping the client to choose and create an appropriate entityo developing a governance structure and drafting by-laws, conflict of interest and other corporate policies o applying for tax exemptionso helping an organization create a corporate and tax structure for a business activity o helping a local organization to create a national structure o reviewing and drafting leases and contracts o creating structures through which charities can participate in the political process o advising on trademark and copyright issues
Details and Resources
Community Enterprise Clinic of Columbia Law School
Microenterprises – serve low income communities and are unable to afford market rates for legal services
Social Enterprises – organizations interested in both generating income and achieving a social or environmental goal
Typical projects for microenterprises and social enterprises:o helping entrepreneurs to choose and form appropriate business structures o drafting or reviewing contracts, leases, financing documentso advising on trademark and copyright issues o complying with regulatory requirements
Community Education and Policy Work: Students offer workshops and prepare publications for non-profits and community entrepreneurs on corporate, tax and regulatory issues. They also participate in law reform projects related to our clients.
Pedagogy: The early weeks in the clinic are designed to prepare students to see clients. Classes, out-of-class exercises, readings, videotaped simulations and individual meetings with the professor are used to build students’ substantive knowledge, skills, judgment and sensitivity to ethical issues. Once casework begins, simulations taper off and the actual cases become the subject of weekly supervision meetings and some classes. Throughout the semester, we focus on the lawyer’s role, especially the unique issues in representing organizations rather than individuals, and on helping students to develop a workable personal conception of that role.
Expectations: Students should plan on spending at least 21 hours per week on Clinic work and can expect to come out of the Clinic with a good grounding in the corporate and tax law relevant to our clients; a sense of how the law functions in practice; basic skills in communicating with clients, facilitating the work of a group enterprise, problem-solving and drafting; sensitivity to ethical issues; good work habits involving careful planning and the ability to reflect on and learn from experience; and an understanding of how lawyers can use their skills to benefit communities.
Details and Resources
Northumbria University, UKo Students at the Student Law Office are divided into “law firms”
which assist businesses, charities and social enterprises regardless of their size or financial means.
o Typical projects: o registering a trademarko drafting website terms and conditionso drafting company registration documents and advising on
directors’ dutieso drafting and advising on a music video production contract
o Students offer free workshops to the public and to entrepreneurs’ groups.
o Contact:Elaine Campbell Senior Lecturer +44 191 243 7548 [email protected]
Details and Resources
Queen Mary University of London Legal Advice Centreo qLegal, starting in 2014, will offer free legal advice (not
representation) on a broad range of business, commercial and intellectual property issues to non-profit social enterprises and for-profit companies which meet income guidelines.
o The Law for the Arts Centre offers free legal advice monthly to those involved in the creative industries.
o qLegal Contact: Patrick Cahill
www.qmul.ac.uk/qLegal 020 7882 [email protected]
www.qmul.ac.uk/qLegal
Details and Resources
University of South Wales, Pontypridd, UKo The recently established Legal and Financial Advice
Clinic advises small businesses and social enterpriseso Enterprises are not eligible for free legal advice
through government programs – goal of the Advice Clinic is to fill this gap, especially for the many individuals who have no livelihood alternative other than starting a business.
o Contact
Richard Owen Director Legal and Financial Advice ClinicFaculty of Business and SocietyUniversity of South WalesTel: 01443 654639Fax: 01443 483008 e-mail: [email protected]
Details and Resources
Josip Juraj Strossmayer University in Osijek Croatiao Law faculty and Economics faculty planning a
clinic to assist start-up entrepreneurs.o Working in teams, law students will provide advice
and documents necessary to start a company, and economics students will provide industry analyses.
o Contact:Anamarija Delic, PhDAssistant ProfessorFaculty of Economics in OsijekTel: +385 31 224 426Fax: +385 31 224 438
Details and Resources
o Law School Entrepreneurship ClinicsKauffman Foundation
http://www.entrepreneurship.org/entrepreneurship-law/
o Bigger Than You Think: The Economic Impact of Microenterprise in the United States available at www.aeoworks.org
Details and Resources
Selected Books & Law Review Articles by Professor Susan R. Jones
BOOKS
Building Healthy Communities: A Guide to Community Economic Development for Advocates, Lawyers and Policymakers, Chicago, IL: American Bar Association, 2009. (with Roger A. Clay, Jr.) Legal Guide to Microenterprise Development. Chicago, IL: American Bar Association, Section of Business Law, 2004.
ARTICLES Enriching the Law School Curriculum: The Rise of Transactional Legal Clinics in U.S. Law Schools (with Prof. Jacqueline Lainez), forthcoming, Washington U. J. L & Policy ____(2013). Innovative Approaches to Public Service through Institutionalized Action Research: Reflections from Law and Social Work, 33 U. Arkansas L R 377 (2011) (with Dr. Shirley J. Jones). Supporting Urban Entrepreneurs: Perspectives on Small Business Development - Law, Policy & the Role of Lawyers, 30 Western New England L.R. 71 (2008). Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Legacy: An Economic Justice Imperative - Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Speech, 2004-2005, Seventh Annual Public Interest Law Speakers Series, Access to Justice and the Social Responsibility of Lawyers, Washington University, St.Louis, MO, Jan. 19, 2005, 19 Washington U. J. L & Policy 39 (2005). Promoting Social and Economic Justice Through Interdisciplinary Work in Transactional Law, 14 Washington U. J. L & Policy 249 (2004). Pro Bono Pays Off: Transactional Lawyers Supporting Economic Development in the Nation's Capitol, 17 GP Solo & Small Firm Lawyer 38 (March 2000). Representing the Poor and Homeless: Innovations in Advocacy: Tackling Homelessness through Economic Self-Sufficiency, 19 St. Louis University Public Law Review 385-412 (2000). Small Business and Community Economic Development: Transactional Lawyering for Social Change and Economic Justice, 4Clinical Law Review 195-234 (1997).
Details and Resources
Selected publications by Professor Barbara Schatz Starting Off Right, Columbia Law School 2012 Small Business Start-Ups , Columbia Law School 2012 Community Lawyering (with Anna Cody) in The Global Clinical Movement, Frank S. Bloch, ed. (Oxford University Press, 2011) Getting Organized (with A. Bromberger and R. Hobisch), Lawyers Alliance for New York, 1999