I. Types of Courses

Clinic seminars discuss a variety of the substantive issues that entrepreneurs typically confront. Contract drafting and negotiation, basic finance concepts, employee compensation and stock options, and protection of intellectual property are usual subjects for a broad survey course. Courses geared towards particular industries, like biotechnology, will include more specific discussion of relevant regulatory requirements.

“Life cycle” courses approach the representation of entrepreneurial enterprises through an examination of the various stages through which an enterprise may evolve. A course like this may start with the identification of the entrepreneurial concept, and proceed through several stages and types of financing, strategic partnerships, the decision to go public, and exit strategies.

Simulation courses can take a variety of forms, but generally explore selected issues through the use of simulated client representation. These courses can involve intensive out-of-class assignments in a way similar to a clinical course but without live client representation.

Deals courses generally involve in-depth analysis of various transactions, identified either by substantive criteria or by focus on particular skills involved.

Interdisciplinary courses introduce law students to other disciplines. A typical relevant course of this type is Corporate Finance offered as part of the law school curriculum. Interdisciplinary courses also can be taught to students from more than one school. The most common examples are courses taught to both law and business students simultaneously. Other examples include courses taught to both law and engineering students.

In these courses, the exploration of issues relating to entrepreneurship is enriched by the different skill sets and perspectives brought to the course by the students as well as the faculty. The courses are designed to bring together teams of the type that will typically be assembled in actual transactions. An important goal of these courses is to enable students from each discipline to understand the value added that the other discipline brings to the discussion.