Small Business & Community Economic Development Clinic

Small Business & Community Economic Development Clinic Client Testimonials

Information for Students

The Clinic’s clients receive the help of law students who work under the supervision and direction of a full-time law professor. For practical purposes, students are responsible for all aspects of representing their clients, including scheduling meetings, drafting legal documents, phone consultations, file maintenance and keeping clients abreast of their work and progress.

Each student will be individually responsible for at least one to two case matters throughout the semester. A team of students may be responsible for several cases during the semester.

A significant part of clinical education is the opportunity to learn from and reflect on experience, and clinical programs often use self-reflection exercises as an opportunity for student introspection and self-examination. This course involves the actual practice of law – a very serious undertaking. In practice lawyers will have to teach themselves about law on an ongoing basis. Self-reflection memos are used to record students’ thoughts about the process of becoming a lawyer, substantive questions they are grappling with in their cases, the clinical education experience, and related issues.

The SBCED Clinic gives students the opportunity to translate theory into practice. Students gain experience in client interviewing and counseling, developing professional judgment, and other lawyering skills such as corporate and contract drafting and review. 

Eligibility Requirements

• 2L and 3L students are eligible to apply.
• Prerequisites: Law 6250 (Corporations) and Law 6300 (Federal Income Tax); may not be taken concurrently.

For more information, and to apply, please log in to the Portal. Application materials are posted approximately one month prior to the registration period for the following semester.

Student Application Information

Interested students must complete and submit the Uniform Clinic Application on the Law School’s student portal website under “Clinic,” where a complete set of application instructions is posted a few weeks prior to the registration period for the next semester. Each semester, the Clinics hold an Open House where each Clinic’s faculty and/or students will be available to answer questions about their clinics. Students may contact Professor Hatcher or other Clinic faculty/staff to discuss the Clinic or to ask specific questions. Students may enroll in this course and in Law 6668 (Field Placement) only with permission of the Clinic Director and the Assistant Dean of Field Placement.

Seminar and Faculty Supervision

Weekly Seminar: The seminar portion of the Clinic covers a range of substantive topics, including best practices and strategies to effectively interview, problem-solve, evaluate legal options, and client counseling. The weekly seminars aid students in their case work.

Seminar Case Rounds: During the semester, students will present case rounds. Case rounds have several benefits: 1) learning to speak before a group of fellow student attorneys; 2) allowing the speaker and the class to benefit from the combined expertise of the group; 3) developing case strategies and plans with Clinic colleagues; and 4) sharing learning experiences, insights, and reflections. As the semester progresses, many of the same questions arise in different cases. The seminar presents the opportunity to create a network of information to facilitate collective learning and efficient and effective client representation.

Supervision: Clinic students work in teams. Each team must meet with the supervising professor(s) once per week for 1 hour during a regularly scheduled meeting time. Student teams are also responsible for holding weekly team meetings.

Time Commitment

Students must attend the weekly 2-hour Clinic seminar, weekly 1–2-hour case supervision meetings with the professor, and 1-hour weekly team meetings. Students will also be responsible for all of the lawyering required by the case. Student time commitment will average about 20 hours/week for this 6-credit clinic experience – including work for the seminar and for the lawyering.

Information for Prospective Clients

The Clinic is designed to meet two important needs:

1. To provide current law students interested in business law with a clinical program that will expose them to the practical and substantive legal problems of counseling small businesses and nonprofit organizations.
2. To offer much needed legal advice to segments of the small business community in the DC metropolitan area. Clients are seen by appointment only.

Since 1977, the Clinic has provided free start-up legal services to Washington, DC area entrepreneurs, nonprofit groups, and artists including short-term counseling in a broad range of business matters such as corporations, limited liability companies, partnerships, contracts, commercial leases.

The Clinic also provides direct legal assistance, counseling, representation, and informational materials to new and existing nonprofit organizations and groups whose mission is to help low- income individuals and communities pursue economic empowerment and self-help initiatives.

How the Clinic Accepts Cases:

The Clinic is a free service and one of only a few small business legal clinics in the DC area. Most of the Clinic’s clients are microbusinesses comprising of 1-5 persons with less than $50,000 in start-up capital. The Clinic’s services are in high demand and it handles a limited number of carefully selected cases each semester by appointment only.

We choose clients according to a range of factors which include the variety in our case load, the number of clients we already represent, and the complexity of the client’s case. Preference is given to clients who have developed a business model canvas or business plan. If we are unable to help a client in a given semester we may be able refer the client to another legal resource.

The services provided by the Clinic take place during the George Washington University Law School’s academic year (i.e., from September through April of each year). The Clinic does not accept new cases in the summer.

Legal Services Provided:

• Drafting or reviewing Articles of Incorporation
• Drafting or reviewing Bylaws for Corporations (for profit and non-profit)
• Creating Limited Liability Companies
• Reviewing Leases
• Conducting Legal Research on Specific Problems
• Business Licenses and Permits
• Contract Drafting and Contract Review
• Application for 501c3 Federal Tax-Exemption Status

The Clinic does not handle litigation. Additionally, the Clinic does not draft business plans, engage in financial negotiations, develop loan packages, or prepare tax returns. For these types of services, we recommend that clients seek the services of an accountant or tax advisor.

To Obtain Representation:

Please send an email to [email protected] with a brief description of your legal issue and to determine availability.

The client must complete an application before he or she is eligible for consideration:

Application for Legal Assistance [pdf]

The clinic requires all prospective clients to attend an initial consultation (virtually or in person) before we will accept a case. After the initial consultation, the director will make a decision on whether the clinic can accept the case. A prospective client will be notified by email of the decision. Whether or not the clinic can accept a case depends on a variety of factors such as the complexity of the case, the size and variety in our case load, and whether the client has a business model canvas or business plan.

The Client's Role:

Once a case has been accepted, the client is responsible for filing all legal papers with the appropriate government agency and paying any filing fees. The Clinic will prepare a Retainer Agreement with the client, specifying the scope of legal work to be completed. Clients agree to be represented by law students working under the supervision of a licensed attorney. Due to the educational nature of the Clinic, the client is expected to commit to actively engaging in the legal assistance process by maintaining communication with the Clinic students assigned to their case with corrections or feedback, and attending scheduled Clinic meetings or emailing the clinic or the student(s) assigned to their case if they should need to cancel a scheduled meeting. We reserve the right to end our relationship with the client if he or she is not complying with our requests for information or neglects to contact us when they cannot attend a scheduled meeting.

Legal services are provided on a short-term basis. We will keep the information clients discuss with us confidential. However, there may be instances where we will seek the client's permission to share information for the client's benefit with other organizations such as loan programs or the media. Cases will be discussed by students enrolled in the course and with the supervising attorney.

The clinic cannot serve as ongoing legal counsel for a business. Draft or final documents can usually be delivered within several weeks, depending on the complexity of the case and the client's diligence and attention to the case.

Resources

Action Research Projects

• Legal Audit Checklist for Social Entrepreneurs Doing Business in the United States [pdf]
• Business and Legal Toolkit for Returning Citizens [pdf]