Startup legal clinic

History

Some iteration of a business-focused legal clinic has been discussed at the Allard School of Law for more than 8 years. Proposals have ranged from a clinic focused on helping businesses in the downtown east side, to helping low income persons with their businesses, to proposals that have been lost to history.

The idea was re-kindled last year when entrepreneurship@UBC (e@UBC) approached the UBC Law and Business Society about having a legal clinic focused on helping start-ups with their legal issues.

After initial conversations with e@UBC, the UILO, and the Allard School of Law / the National Centre for Business Law (NCBL), it was determined that:
• e@UBC, the UILO, and the Faculty are generally interested in having such a clinic
• the UILO's primary concern is that they don't want liability for anything the clinic does
• the Faculty / NCBL don't see themselves financially sponsoring such a clinic
• the UILO sees major legal needs for the start-ups as incorporation and shareholder agreements. It believes IP questions would be too complex for a student-run legal clinic

Key Players

1. entrepreneurship@UBC (e@UBC) is a joint initiative between four key departments at UBC: the Sauder (business) school, Applied Sciences (engineering, architecture, nursing) faculty, Science faculty, and the University Industry Liaison Office. A relatively new venture, e@UBC is ~3 years old and has minimal staff.

The following groups are eligible for participation in e@UBC's programs: • current UBC students
• UBC alumni, within three years of graduation
• UBC faculty
• UBC staff

2. The University Industry Liaison Office (UILO) is the technology transfer department of UBC. Tech transfer does not necessarily mean "high tech", but rather is the part of a university that helps its members to develop and grow new businesses, usually as a result of research or work those members have done through the university.

Note that the UILO is currently undergoing a re-branding exercise, and may soon have a new name. It also is working with UBC to reconsider the "if you develop it at UBC, then the university owns the idea" intellectual property policy currently in place. Instead, it is contemplating to a you-develop-it, you-own-it Waterloo-style policy.

3. The http://www.allard.ubc.ca/ Allard School of Law]. It's our faculty, what more do we need to say? :)

The National Centre for Business Law also operates through the Allard School of Law. Prof David Duff (former associate dean, now on administrative leave until Jan 2012) and Prof Liljiana Biukovic are the co-chairs. That organization has good connections within the business/legal community in Vancouver.