Intellectual Property and Business Formation Legal Clinic
Washington University School of Law is among the few law schools in the United States to have established an Intellectual Property and Business Formation Legal Clinic. It is associated with the Center for Research on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, inaugurated in Spring 2005. Both are initially being funded by a generous grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and are being directed by Charles R. McManis, the Thomas and Karole Green Professor of Law.
- David Deal and clinic students
discussing clinic projects.
The IP/BF Legal Clinic provides law students with unique opportunities to work with intellectual property counsel in providing early stage legal advice to innovators both within the University and in the wider community.
Students learn to collaborate in interdisciplinary experiential learning activities with students from the School of Medicine, Olin School of Business, the Department of Biomedical Engineering, the George Warren Brown School of Social Work, and Arts & Sciences; and to provide IP and business formation legal services to clients who might otherwise not have access to competent legal counsel.
The Clinic’s activities are devoted to four program areas, each of which involves teams of two students, who:
- Participate in interdisciplinary innovation and entrepreneurship courses, such as the Senior Design Course in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Olin School’s Hatchery course;
- Work with St. Louis-area IP attorneys to provide early stage legal advice to other innovators and entrepreneurs, especially with business incubators in the St. Louis area;
- Work with nonprofit organizations such as: St. Louis Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts (VLAA), and Public Interest Intellectual Property Advisors (PIIPA), a nationwide intellectual property referral service established to help clients from developing countries find U.S. IP professionals to represent them in IP matters as a public service; and
- Work with two area research organizations — the Missouri Botanical Garden and the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center — on international projects involving genetic resources, biotechnology, and the protection of traditional medicinal and agricultural knowledge.
Read more about our Intellectual Property program in our Fall 2005 brochure.
For more information or questions about the Clinic, contactDavid Deal, Administrative Director, Intellectual Property and Business Formation Legal Clinic, 314.935.7960 or email drdeal@wulaw.wustl.edu.