Entrepreneurship Clinic – Washington University in St. Louis

About

The Entrepreneurship and Intellectual Property Clinic assists business owners and nonprofit leaders with legal issues. The clinic presents law students with unique opportunities to address transactional matters and provide advice to clients on a full spectrum of intellectual property and nonprofit law issues.

Clients range from small startup entities to community and educational groups to international organizations. Students are supervised by Washington University professors Jonathan Smith and Salvatore Gianino, who co-direct the clinic.

Students address a wide range of patent, copyright, trademark and general business formation matters such as:

• Forming business entities and assisting with tax structure
• Drafting documents governing the operations of an organization
• Drafting and negotiating commercial agreements
• Counseling and drafting documents protecting copyright, trademark, patent, and trade secret rights
• Drafting contracts for business transactions involving intellectual property

The clinic participates in the Law School Clinic Certification Program of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Through this program, eligible students are able to obtain limited recognition with the USPTO to file patent applications, respond to office actions and communicate with USPTO examiners.

The clinic accepts new clients during the months of July and December for the respective fall and spring semesters. If your legal needs are time sensitive, the clinic recommends that you not wait to receive the clinic’s assistance but that you instead seek the counsel of another legal service provider as soon as possible.