The University of Texas School of Law
The Entrepreneurship and Community Development Clinic offers transactional business law representation to entrepreneurs, nonprofit organizations, and community groups. Law students provide a variety of legal services, including choice of entity counseling, formation of for-profit and nonprofit entities, assistance in obtaining and maintaining federal tax-exempt status, contract review and drafting, real estate work, trademark and copyright work, employment law counseling, and general counsel services for nonprofit boards of directors.
Each semester, students work in teams under attorney supervision, assisting three or four clients who would otherwise be unable to afford legal assistance. The clinic is a partnership between the law school and Texas Community Building with Attorney Resources (Texas C-BAR), a project of Texas RioGrande Legal Aid. In addition to representation, the clinic also provides interested students a policy tract in which they work with community groups to develop local and statewide policy solutions to community development issues.
Most recently, the clinic has tackled legal obstacles facing individuals wanting to start up food truck businesses. These establishments are subject to the same food and safety rules as their brick-and-mortar counterparts and benefit from the clinic’s work to overcome these hurdles.
For more information, visit: http://www.utexas.edu/law/magazine/2014/10/20/small-trucks-big-business/