Meeting the legal needs of student entrepreneurs

1. Meeting the legal needs of student entrepreneurs Dr. John McArdle 2017 ALT Annual Meeting Portsmouth, UK April 11, 2017

2. Context • Students who study entrepreneurship benefit from exposure to legal concepts and practical legal problems • Traditional entrepreneurship education employs experiential education in a variety of forms • However, most programs do not provide students with hands-on legal training, nor do they expose students to actual problems of practice • Most programs have one required general business law course • This is a missed opportunity

3. The Setting: A comprehensive New England public university • Salem State University, Salem Massachusetts • 9000 students, 7500 undergraduate, 1400 business, 100 or so concentrating in entrepreneurship • For the Major: 18 courses (54 credits), eleven of which are common across the business core. One introductory law course • For the Minor: 5 courses (15 credits). No required law course • Both program tracks have a required experiential component • Both programs tracks are under review this summer, I am Program Leader • 15 member academic department, 3 entrepreneurship faculty

4. University President Dean, Business School Director, Enterprise Center (Incubator) Academic Department and Curriculum Director, Small Business Development Center Volunteers and local firms (attorneys and businesses)

5. Statement of the Problem • Entrepreneurship students needed practical, experiential opportunities to learn applied law • The University had a number of unique elements which are natural competitive advantages. However, they did not interact with each other. • If barriers could be broken, natural synergies could occur.

6. University President Donors and Community Center for Entrepreneurship Business Curriculum SBDC Enterprise Center

7. Restatement of the Problem, and a Solution • Problem: • Entrepreneurship students needed practical, experiential opportunities to learn applied law • The university had a number of unique attributes which, when combined, provided for leverage • If we had funding, we could create a program • Solution: • University Strategic Planning Grant • Donor Funding

8. Program Design • Entrepreneurially-minded students are provided a credit bearing experiential learning opportunity • SBDC recruits and brokers relationships between volunteer clients and volunteer attorneys • Faculty Director supervises the clinical program • Students are employed in the capacity of “intake clerks” for the volunteer attorneys and/or SBDC. They do not dispense legal advice, but write issue briefs and provide support for attorneys • Students have the opportunity to develop critical reasoning and critical writing skills, and see law in action • Attorneys have the opportunity to provide “two-way” pro-bono service • Clients benefit by receiving legal advice

9. Takeaways • In order to develop an experiential entrepreneurship program, you have to think entrepreneurially • Students benefit from a practice-based pedagogical model • Crafting “issue spotting” or “argument-developing” assignments can pay dividends • Students need to have opportunities for critical reflection

10. Next Steps • Now that we have a structural model, we need to develop an assessment model • That model needs specific learning outcomes and targeted reflective assignments • We may have issues with capacity and program sustainability • In the future, we may wish to partner with a local law school clinic

11. Contact Information • Dr. John McArdle • jmcardle@salemstate.edu