Top Law Schools

I was just wondering from your guys' experience, which law schools offer the best programs for students who want to get a hands on knowledge of entrepreneurship, start-ups, business innovation, etc.? I know Northwestern has a great program for this. Any others come to mind?

Thaaanks.

Harvard and Stanford. Both also have the top business schools and a lot of [tech] startups going on on campus.

untar614 wrote:Harvard and Stanford. Both also have the top business schools and a lot of [tech] startups going on on campus.

Lol I would say stanford and Cal for start ups but I have a slight CA bias there due to my startup exp.

jbagelboy wrote:

untar614 wrote:Harvard and Stanford. Both also have the top business schools and a lot of [tech] startups going on on campus.

Lol I would say stanford and Cal for start ups but I have a slight CA bias there due to my startup exp.

probably for silicon valley sure, but don't sleep on Harvard. Facebook was started there! And I personally know at least a couple people over there doing some tech startup stuff. Prob a bigger advantage I'd say to Stanford is you could do JD/MBA in 3 years.

Facebook moved to Cali as soon as it realized it had any chance of being something.
Stanford is tcr, Berkeley is second tcr for tech startups.

Penn, NYU, CLS, Harvard, NU, SLS, Berkeley all have great MBA programs and probably offer cross school opportunities for students with your interest.

sinfiery wrote:Facebook moved to Cali as soon as it realized it had any chance of being something.
Stanford is tcr, Berkeley is second tcr for tech startups.

Penn, NYU, CLS, Harvard, NU, SLS, Berkeley all have great MBA programs and probably offer cross school opportunities for students with your interest.

Moreover, since we are talking about law school not UG, Google's first attorney-now-billionaire went to Boalt and started working with them as a student in berkeley.

NatalieCourtman wrote:best programs for students who want to get a hands on knowledge of entrepreneurship, start-ups, business innovation, etc.?

Business School does this.

jbagelboy wrote:
Moreover, since we are talking about law school not UG, Google's first attorney-now-billionaire went to Boalt and started working with them as a student in berkeley.

Did not know this, really wish Berk wasn't so damn stingy

USC's Small Business Clinic would be good for this. Also, there are several classes at the law school and biz school that deal with start-ups and new ventures.

sinfiery wrote:

jbagelboy wrote:
Moreover, since we are talking about law school not UG, Google's first attorney-now-billionaire went to Boalt and started working with them as a student in berkeley.

Did not know this, really wish Berk wasn't so damn stingy

yeup. they went on about it at ASW. Now one of Google's chief IP counsel is a GULC grad tho

http://www.wsgr.com/WSGR/DBIndex.aspx?S ... S/2736.htm

so there's definitely no monopoly

Doorkeeper wrote:

NatalieCourtman wrote:best programs for students who want to get a hands on knowledge of entrepreneurship, start-ups, business innovation, etc.?

Business School does this.

+1000 why in the world would you go to law school wanting to get the bolded?

jbagelboy wrote:
yeup. they went on about it at ASW. Now one of Google's chief IP counsel is a GULC grad tho

http://www.wsgr.com/WSGR/DBIndex.aspx?S ... S/2736.htm

so there's definitely no monopoly

Can't find his major so I'm gonna assume it was finance. This is my new role model.

JD/MBA at Wharton is pretty TCR

dawyzest1 wrote:

Doorkeeper wrote:

NatalieCourtman wrote:best programs for students who want to get a hands on knowledge of entrepreneurship, start-ups, business innovation, etc.?

Business School does this.

+1000 why in the world would you go to law school wanting to get the bolded?

Couldn't hurt if you want to counsel start-ups.

Harvard, Stanford, Boalt. Boston and Silicon Valley are the two hottest places in the country for startups. I don't know much about UT, but Austin has a burgeoning startup scene as well, so that might be something to check out.

Also, FWIW entrepreneurship clinics have been popping up at Bay Area law schools besides Boalt and Stanford (USF, SCU, Hastings). Probably because of proximity to all the different startups with offices in SV and SF

..

Do you want to learn to represent founders/private companies from a legal perspective or do you want to learn about e-ship?

If you want to be the founder yourself, I'd recommend not going to law school, and even a JD/MBA wouldn't be all that helpful as most b-schools are pretty crap about teaching entrepreneurship, and law school or b-school alone would provide a "dip your toe into the water" sense of what it's like to be an entrepreneur, but neither would help you be expert. That isn't to say that successful startups aren't launched from business schools, but most "seasoned" entrepreneurs advise that you should put yourself on the line by going to start a company--then you'll understand what it's like. Similarly, most law schools have one or two classes on private company work, but that's not really enough to know what you're doing either.

If you just want to understand enough to better represent companies/founders, you should be able to do that at nearly any school--and there are angel and e-ship trade groups all over the country and linkedin. Certainly understand if it's an area of interest for you, but know that you shouldn't choose a law school based on this.

The skills that you use in private company work are really skills you can learn at nearly any law school- negotiating, drafting contracts, securities regulations, a smattering of IP/licensing, employment and other. Some schools will have more extensive seminars or clinics where you counsel entrepreneurs, but if you take classes that touch on the subjects above, show an interest in e-ship/seed stage work and have "biglaw cutoff" grades from a decent school, you should be able to get a job in the Valley (if that's your goal). We hire much more based on law school prestige/performance than interest in e-ship. I know of one associate at my firm who has the Duke e-ship LLM, but he graduated during the downturn and so it was a stopgap. You really don't need to focus on e-ship to end up working with entreprenuers, at least in the Valley.

If you are interested in finding out about the VC/entrepreneurial world now, I'd recommend the following resources:

Goodwin Procter's Founder's Workbench: http://www.foundersworkbench.com/
NVCA Model Legal Forms: http://www.nvca.org/index.php?option=co ... Itemid=136
Canaan Partners' Model Pitchbook: --LinkRemoved--
WSGR Term Sheet Generator: http://www.wsgr.com/WSGR/Display.aspx?S ... msheet.htm
Stanford's e-corner: http://ecorner.stanford.edu/
Y Combinator's Startup School: http://startupschool.org/

Hope this helps. PM offline if you want to know more.

Stanford, Harvard, Penn

dawyzest1 wrote: +1000 why in the world would you go to law school wanting to get the bolded [knowledge of entreprenuership, startups, business innovation]?

It could allow one to be even more hands-on insofar as legal issues are concerned. How many times have Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Nintendo been sued? True, successful companies are going to encounter legal issues or be sued anyways, but good legal counsel at the top is always a good preventative measure...all the better if the chiefs themselves have strong legal knowledge. The executive offices are ground-zero for the major decision-making, so its much better if they understand and employ in every decision their awareness of the synergy between law and business.

BTW, don't sleep on Northwestern or Penn. They offer three-year JD/MBA's and are great for startups.