Special to UM News
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (November 3, 2015) – Miami Law will begin providing free legal services to entrepreneurs in January to help support South Florida’s booming entrepreneurship community. Through the Larry Hoffman|Greenberg Traurig Startup Law Practicum, law students will help young businesses and organizations with a wide range of legal issues, including organizing, financing, talent, intellectual property, risk, and regulation.
The practicum’s director, Daniel B. Ravicher, an attorney who has represented startups since the dot-com boom in the late 1990s, will supervise the students. Ravicher has helped entrepreneurs with a variety of legal matters and also advised investors in startup companies. An entrepreneur himself, he has formed businesses in various sectors, and was named one of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs by the Echoing Green Foundation.
“We at the University of Miami School of Law are excited about South Florida’s quick ascent to becoming a leading center of entrepreneurial activity,” said Ravicher. “We want to help the community by providing free legal services to those very early-stage entrepreneurs who otherwise would not be able to get the legal assistance they need.”
Miami Law students will assist clients with a number of legal issues, including selecting and forming a business entity, such as LLC or C-corp, evaluating, negotiating, and documenting financing transactions, both equity and debt, and drafting independent contractor, employee, joint venture, and other agreements. They also will assist in protecting intellectual property, including applying for patents and trademarks, and drafting Terms of Service and Privacy Policies for websites and apps. For more information about Miami Law’s Startup Law Practicum, including how to apply for services, visit www.law.miami.edu/startup.