Which classes would be helpful for corporate transactional group for startup/VC? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I'd like to know which classes would be more helpful for corporate transactional group for startup/VC? Specifically, SF/SV market. Secured transaction? Accounting? M&A?

[jkpolk]

I'd like to know which classes would be more helpful for corporate transactional group for startup/VC? Specifically, SF/SV market. Secured transaction? Accounting? M&A?

Take stuff that's cross listed with the business school (or straight up IN the business school) and try to make startup/VC connections. It's a hustle field, not an academic knowledge field.

[oblig.lawl.ref]

I'd like to know which classes would be more helpful for corporate transactional group for startup/VC? Specifically, SF/SV market. Secured transaction? Accounting? M&A?

Take stuff that's cross listed with the business school (or straight up IN the business school) and try to make startup/VC connections. It's a hustle field, not an academic knowledge field.

I'm a junior in such a practice. I think you have it basically. I found secured transactions super helpful on the CA bar (mostly the real property mortgages stuff) but it's not really of much application here. So I would recommend taking it anyways. Securities regulations, accounting and M&A are all credited though. Pretty helpful stuff. B-school stuff may be of help too (esp re startups) but you're still a lawyer working with securities and doing M&A generally. You're not actually running a startup so I don't know that I would go gung ho with the business classes. Also most firms repping startups in SF/SV hire like any other law firms--OCI. You don't need to meet alums of the firm or something at some B-school event.

[Lemming]

Venture Capital was probably one of the better classes I took while in law school. It's really a combination of securities regulation, corporations, tax (but really only 83b, so don't take tax), and a little bit of employment law thrown in. Depending on if you have a corporate finance class, and how it is taught, learning how to do a pre-money/post-money valuations as well as understanding options would be helpful. I also think accounting should be taken by anyone going into a corporate practice area.

[Anonymous User]

I'm a corporate associate at WSGR. Few classes I found helpful or wish that i would have taken, in no particular order:
-Corporate Tax
-M&A
-VC
-Securities Reg (took this but was so bored i remember nothing)
-Employment Law

[20160810]

Take a class on pretending to be interested while guys who smell like Mountain Dew and flop sweat tell you about their apps

[philosoraptor]

OP, are you a rising 2L?

Don't expect any law school classes to directly help with a future startup practice, except knowing the vocabulary. Sec Reg is 75% useless (e.g., lots of philosophical discussions on what a "security" really is and investor-protection policy), but it's good to know, for example, why registration exemptions are important, what an IPO actually entails, and the basics of the JOBS Act. Take basic tax and secured credit, but again, that's mostly for the main concepts, not anything that's going to be practically useful. Advanced tax seems like overkill, since any big firm with a VC practice is going to have good tax lawyers and the corporate partners won't want you answering difficult tax questions or planning the tax structure of deals.

I never took M&A, PE or VC classes, but I don't really regret that. For emerging-growth purposes, these aren't rocket-science deals, and all it takes is to be a clueless junior on a handful of small financings or acquisitions and you'll get the hang of it. Or just read a book about them. No firm will expect you to be an M&A expert when you get there. Employment sounds like it might be credited, as my startup clients ask all the time about employment-related issues. If you can find a decent accounting-for-lawyers course, take that too.

Definitely take business associations. It's not hard, and you should understand stuff like how partnerships, LLCs and corporations work by the time you get to a firm. Also this:

Take a class on pretending to be interested while guys who smell like Mountain Dew and flop sweat tell you about their apps