When a Bitcoin-mining startup founded by MIT students was subpoenaed by New Jersey's attorney general last year, the school's president, L. Rafeal Reif, issued a letter to the community saying the startup would receive MIT's support as it navigated legal waters ahead. But Raif also used the letter to highlight a greater issue facing MIT's innovators and entrepreneurs: the need for legal help.
"Beyond this specific case, I believe we should provide our student inventors and entrepreneurs with a resource for independent legal advice, singularly devoted to their interests and rights," he said.
"We’re hoping to be able to see some through from the idea stage to launching a business entity."
More than a year later, Reif's call-to-arms is being realized with a newly launched partnership between MIT and the Boston University School of Law — a partnership that will not just help MIT student entrepreneurs, but also law students and student entrepreneurs at BU.
The partnership launched this month in the form of The Entrepreneurship & Intellectual Property clinic, one of two free law clinics that will run under the newly minted Entrepreneurship, Intellectual Property, and Cyberlaw Program. As part of the two-semester clinic, eight BU law students will provide free legal advice and representation to MIT and BU students who either want to start their own business or are already involved with a startup. The program's second clinic will focus on technology and cyberlaw and will start next year.
Both clinics will be jointly located at BU Law and the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship. The Entrepreneurship & Intellectual Property clinic is being led by the recently hired BU Law Clinical Instructor Eve J. Brown, while BU and MIT are just starting to look for a director to lead The Technology & Cyberlaw Clinic.
BU Law Dean Maureen A. O’Rourke told BostInno she expects the the first law clinic will be able to support about 40 student entrepreneurs for the school year depending on the complexity of the cases. While she said this will provide students a great opportunity for hands-on experience, she ultimately hopes it will help facilitate the the creation of new startups.
"It would probably be a good idea to check in [with us] in a few months," she said. "We’re hoping to be able to see some through from the idea stage to launching a business entity."
MIT alone has sprouted a number of startups over the years, including Beansprock, a matchmaking site for tech jobs; Just Baguette, an algorithm-driven grocery delivery service; and SolidEnergy, a company that is developing a more powerful battery for smartphones.
This is the first partnership of its kind for BU Law, O'Rourke said, adding that it's a good example of how our economy and education has evolved to one where college students are much more inclined to entrepreneurship. She said it's too early to tell if the program will expand to add more capacity or more academic partnerships, but adding that the two schools will continue to assess student demand.
"The barriers to opening a new business are much lower, but at the same time we have a legal structure in which we need to operate, so it’s nice to have the law students," she said. "There’s been a lot of criticism for not providing law students enough practical experience."
O'Rourke said The Entrepreneurship & Intellectual Property clinic in particular will help student entrepreneurs with a number of legal issues when it comes to starting and running a business, including which sort of organizational structure to pursue, whether to pursue financing from a bank or venture capitalists and what sort of regulatory framework a company will have to navigate through.
Reif, MIT's president, said in a letter last week that these clinics will be a boon for students.
“By providing our students with the legal guidance to navigate the complexities of starting or running a business, the clinics will give them the freedom and confidence to focus on what they do best: creating innovative ideas, technologies and companies,” he said. “At MIT, we believe in our students’ potential to change the world, and we want to equip them with the tools to make an impact. These clinics will provide our students with an important new resource for pursuing their dreams and aspirations.”
