USC Law School Small Business Clinic

Applications are due November 5, 2009 for the Spring semester!

The USC Law School Small Business Clinic (SBC) provides basic corporate legal assistance to small businesses, entrepreneurs and non-profit organizations that cannot afford to pay market rates for legal services. The purpose of the SBC is to give students hands-on experience handling transactional legal problems while providing assistance to small business owners in the greater Los Angeles area. The SBC provides an opportunity for these businesses to get legal guidance on what type of entity to form and assistance in forming a corporation or an LLC, to implement legal protections and to obtain guidance in complying with a variety of legal requirements, without the high costs of business legal services.

The SBC provides a range of business services for both new ventures and existing businesses, including the following:

• Counseling on the selection of an appropriate business structure;
• Forming corporations (which includes drafting articles of incorporation and bylaws (for both profit and non-profit organizations));
• Drafting shareholder agreements;
• Forming limited liability companies (LLCs), partnerships and joint ventures (which includes drafting the accompanying Operating, Partnership or Joint Venture Agreements);
• Reviewing and updating corporate governance materials (such as annual shareholders and board of directors minutes) for existing businesses;
• Reviewing simple contracts and leases;
• Reviewing legal documents (such as contracts or Terms and Conditions) currently in use by the client;
• Conducting legal research on specific business problems or issues;
• Reviewing the need for various business licenses and permits and counseling on compliance with specific local, State and Federal regulatory requirements; and
• Simple contract drafting.

USC Stevens is looking for 5 entrepreneurs to participate in this program. If you would like to be considered for this program, please download the fill-in PDF application here and e-mail it to Polai Av  with subject: USC SBC.