Startup Legal Garage

Overview

The Startup Legal Garage is the flagship program for the Institute for Innovation Law, in which students provide free, real-world legal work for early-stage Tech and BioTech companies while supervised by leading Bay Area Law firms. Under the direction of seasoned practitioners, students work with Tech or BioTech startups, assisting them with the corporate and intellectual property needs of an early-stage startup, while also participating in a classroom component that covers corporate or intellectual property doctrinal matters. Client matters regularly include corporate formations, capitalization tables, intellectual property strategies, freedom to operate analyses, and basic contract and personnel issues.

Partnerships

We work with a number of incubators, including QB3, Hackers/Founders, UCLA Startup in a Box, Expat Women, and the Stanford Business School. Our legal partners include Wilson Sonsini, Goodwin Proctor, Orrick, Pillsbury Winthrop, DLA Piper, Cooley, Kilpatrick Townsend, Rimon, Wilmer Hale, Reed Smith, Crowell & Moring, Hogan Lovells, Fenwick & West, and Hanson Bridgett as well as several smaller firms.

Classroom Component

Our “active classroom” exemplifies the next generation of legal education, exposing students to real-world client-based work as soon as possible.