Social Enterprise Biz Counsel - Biglaw 1st? Forum

[DougieFresh]

Objective: found my own firm/biz incubator or form a department within a firm devoted to social enterprise and non-profit start ups using business models to achieve material positive gains on society, community, or environment 3-5 years after graduating law school.

Question: Is biglaw the best route to gain the skills and experience in organizational structures, taxation, mergers and acquisitions, transactions to be able to offer a valuable service to social enterprise and non profit start ups? Could I gain this kind of experience at a smaller firm, and if so, what size? 2-10, 10-25, 25-50?

Issues: UGPA 3.26 which may become LSACGPA 2.9 depending on a petition I've filed with UG to expunge courses retaken from my transcript, as both retake and original grades are tallied by LSAC. Current LSAT score of 158 (nominal studying), devoting full time 3 months to study for October & December LSAT using methods shared here. Side note: because of this forum, I did not apply '13 cycle with a 2.9/158. So thanks.

If biglaw is going to be the best route to develop the kinds of skills that would be essential for me being able to offer a valuable service to social entrepreneurs, then I will need to be looking at splitter friendly schools (Northwestern comes to mind) with strong biglaw placement. If, on the other hand, I can gain that kind of experience in small firms, I'd be more interested in attending a lower ranked strong regional school with $$$$ in the markets I'd be interested in practicing.

Ultimately, to the clients I will be serving, they won't distinguish if I went to a school ranked nr. 30 or unranked, but more on my ability to deliver results and on what fees I can afford to charge. And that comes down to the quality of experience and training I can get in the first few years out of law school, assuming I get a job

[dr123]

um if this is your goal dont go to ls. a better route would be like, WE --> MBA --> Social Entrepreneurship fellowship

[DougieFresh]

um if this is your goal dont go to ls. a better route would be like, WE --> MBA --> Social Entrepreneurship fellowship

I'm currently interning in the legal social entrepreneurship space, and this is where my passion lies. I'm nearly 4 years out of university with WE (non profit, peace corps, legal foundation) and genuinely enjoy reading and studying developments in social entrepreneurship law. The other night I stayed up reading eBay vs. Newmark to better understand the significance of Delaware proposing Benefit Corporation Legislation. I get excited by the law and how it can be used to help people change the world, and while I do consider myself an entrepreneur, I am not drawn to study business the way I am to study business law.

[timbs4339]

um if this is your goal dont go to ls. a better route would be like, WE --> MBA --> Social Entrepreneurship fellowship

I'm currently interning in the legal social entrepreneurship space, and this is where my passion lies. I'm nearly 4 years out of university with WE (non profit, peace corps, legal foundation) and genuinely enjoy reading and studying developments in social entrepreneurship law. The other night I stayed up reading eBay vs. Newmark to better understand the significance of Delaware proposing Benefit Corporation Legislation. I get excited by the law and how it can be used to help people change the world, and while I do consider myself an entrepreneur, I am not drawn to study business the way I am to study business law.

Reading Supreme Court cases is nothing like actual law especially transactional/corporate law. If you get excited about them it means you'll be a good law professor or good appellate clerk.

You can't gain that kind of experience in small firms because there aren't a lot of small firms that do the work, it's simply not very profitable to center a firm around. There are "boutiques" but they usually require biglaw grades/school, or a few years of experience at a biglaw firm. Biglaw is definitely necessary.

[Clearly]

You would need a heck of an LSAT score to get into a big law feeder school. Good luck.

[DougieFresh]

To clarify, I'm not saying that I envision my legal career arguing before the Court of Chancery in Delaware about how craigslist should be free of eBay's evil money mongering tactics. My objective is to provide economical and highly effective legal services for passionate clients setting up their organizational structures, employee contracts, taxation, and other legal needs a small business may have. Understanding that there is not much money working with these clients, I may need to take work in exchange for equity, practice as a virtual firm to reduce expenses, and potentially operating as a non-profit for debt forgiveness.

My question remains, what is the best way to develop legal experience in small business counseling?

[DougieFresh]

You would need a heck of an LSAT score to get into a big law feeder school. Good luck.

172+ for Northwestern from what I've seen on LawSchoolNumbers for 2.9 GPA. The 2 year program may have more relaxed entrance requirements. My goal is to score that high, but the question remains...

Could I feasibly develop a strong toolkit of legal skills to serve small businesses going to a regional school in my target market working for a small firm? medium sized firm?

Anyone with experience working with small businesses your advice would be much appreciated!

[deuceindc]

My question remains, what is the best way to develop legal experience in small business counseling?

Work as a paralegal for a law firm that does small biz/startup counseling.

Or work for a startup directly. Or work for an incubator/support group that handles this stuff. I honestly don't know how the business/legal interactions go down for small businesses, but find out who does the legal end and work for them.

[09042014]

You would need a heck of an LSAT score to get into a big law feeder school. Good luck.

172+ for Northwestern from what I've seen on LawSchoolNumbers for 2.9 GPA. The 2 year program may have more relaxed entrance requirements. My goal is to score that high, but the question remains...

Could I feasibly develop a strong toolkit of legal skills to serve small businesses going to a regional school in my target market working for a small firm? medium sized firm?

Anyone with experience working with small businesses your advice would be much appreciated!

Northwestern does have an entrepreneurship clinic you can work in too.

[BalanceCare]

You seem like a talented and driven person, the type who can create interesting work no matter where he/she ends end up (law school or elsewhere). I do believe that, so please don't take my next observation personally: the amount of energy that you're putting into your posts in this thread (as if to demonstrate that you have what it takes to make an impact) would be better spent studying for your retake. I say that as a non-traditional applicant whose serious attention to a retake ended up paying off very well. Pm if you want to talk. Good luck!

[IAFG]

NU entrepreneurship clinic -> Fenwick & West -> ??? -> profit

[sambeber]

Contact some of the firms in § 6 of this resource guide and ask?

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm? ... wnload=yes

[PRgradBYU]

You would need a heck of an LSAT score to get into a big law feeder school. Good luck.

172+ for Northwestern from what I've seen on LawSchoolNumbers for 2.9 GPA.

You may even need a higher LSAT than that. An applicant with a sub-3.0 GPA is prone to an incredibly unpredictable cycle.

[DougieFresh]

Contact some of the firms in § 6 of this resource guide and ask?

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm? ... wnload=yes

Thanks for sharing!