The Entrepreneurship Clinic of Stanford Law School seeks an enthusiastic and dedicated attorney to join its in-person teaching and practice team as a Clinical Supervising Attorney and Lecturer in Law. The supervising attorney will be an integral part of all aspects of the Clinic’s dual mission to (i) train outstanding law students to represent clients in a variety of transactional practice matters; and (ii) empower economically-disadvantaged entrepreneurs and emerging enterprises with legal expertise and education.
The Entrepreneurship Clinic will operate at the intersection of entrepreneurship and economic/social justice. It is the successor to the Organizations and Transactions Clinic, which provided free corporate legal services to established non-profit organizations from the Clinic’s founding in 2007 until the recent retirement of its founding director. Now under new leadership, the Clinic has been renamed the Entrepreneurship Clinic and will resume operations in the spring 2025 quarter. The Entrepreneurship Clinic will primarily represent startup business ventures in the San Francisco Bay Area founded by low-income entrepreneurs, as well as some social impact enterprises, small businesses, and non-profits.
The supervising attorney will work hand-in-hand with students in the Clinic as they represent real clients. The legal work of the Clinic is highly interdisciplinary and collaborative. The Clinic will advise on a wide range of transactional legal issues affecting startups and small businesses, including pre-venture counseling for co-founders, business entity formation, corporate governance, employment law, compensation, intellectual property, financing, securities law, taxation, and regulatory compliance. The Clinic will not engage in any litigation or patent work.
Students will conduct legal research and prepare legal memoranda, government filings, and various contracts (such as co-founder, operating, shareholder, terms of use, privacy policy, customer, manufacturing, social media influencer, software as a service, financing, employment, intern, consulting, stock option, non-disclosure, and/or intellectual property assignment agreements). The Clinic will also conduct educational legal workshops and office hours for entrepreneurs and small business owners in the community.
Reporting to, and working closely with the Clinic’s director, Professor Bernice Grant, the supervising attorney will be deeply immersed in all the Clinic’s work, including:
- Providing extensive supervision of Clinic students, particularly in small-group and one-on-one settings
- Reviewing students’ legal work such as legal research and analysis; legal memoranda, contracts, and other written work; and client emails and counseling
- Giving regular, detailed, oral and written feedback to students on their performance
- Delivering instruction in, and modeling, core lawyering and practice skills
- Ensuring professional, high-quality representation of Clinic clients
- Reaching out to potential collaborators, and developing and maintaining relationships with community partners
- Pursuing client development, including conducting (often with students) client intake, and identifying and reaching out to potential new clients
- Partnering with the director to shape the overall vision and operation of the Clinic, design its innovative curriculum, develop teaching materials, co-teach the twice-weekly clinic seminar, and ensure best-practice Clinic administration and operations
- Providing direct client representation during student breaks or when otherwise necessary
The Entrepreneurship Clinic is one of ten clinics comprising the Mills Legal Clinic, one of the nation’s leading law school clinical programs. The Stanford program is unique in that students participate in a clinic on a full-time basis for an entire academic quarter. They do not take any other courses during that quarter, they work in the clinic space each business day, and they focus exclusively and intensively on their clients and cases. This model allows for highly intentional, reflective, and iterative client work and the ability to provide deep, nuanced supervision and mentoring to students.
Mills Legal Clinic supervising attorneys are part of the vibrant intellectual community within the Law School and Stanford University at large. The supervising attorney will be invited to attend periodic faculty workshops at which scholars from Stanford and throughout the world present research and works in progress, and may attend similar talks elsewhere in the university. The clinic also provides resources for its supervising attorneys to participate in conferences, continuing education, and other professional development activities.
Minimum Requirements
- J.D. or equivalent legal degree
- At least four years of experience in transactional practice, preferably with some exposure to issues arising in the corporate, emerging companies, venture capital, employment law, intellectual property, and/or technology transactions areas
- Superior writing, editing, and verbal skills
- Outstanding academic credentials
- Sound judgment and exceptional ethical standards
- Excellent teamwork, collaboration, and teambuilding skills
- Strong interest in, and demonstrated potential for, successful teaching and student supervision, including previous experience in a clinical legal setting, the direct supervision and mentoring of junior attorneys, or similar experience
- Strong organizational and management skills, attention to detail, and self-motivation, and an aptitude for law practice and clinic management
- Admission to practice in California or eligibility and willingness to sit for the next California Bar exam
- Experience advising low-income entrepreneurs, and demonstrated interest in the intersection of entrepreneurship and economic/social justice, is desirable but not required
- A background in business or entrepreneurship is desirable but not required
The position is for an initial one-year fixed term with the possibility of renewal. The supervising attorney will work in person at Stanford Law School; remote work is not possible.
Applicants should submit resumes through http://jobs.stanford.edu/, referencing job number 105382. Applications should be submitted as soon as possible and will be considered on a rolling basis until the position is filled, with a preferred start date by February 15, 2025.
In addition, applicants should send the following materials to Ana Villanueva, the Clinic legal assistant, at anamv@law.stanford.edu.
- A statement no longer than three pages describing the candidate’s (i) transactional practice and other relevant experience; (ii) interest in entrepreneurial law generally and the Entrepreneurship Clinic and its focus on low-income entrepreneurs in particular; and (iii) interest in, and potential for, clinical supervision and teaching
- A resume
- A list of three professional references
- A complete law school transcript
Questions about the position, the Clinic, or the job requirements can be sent to Professor Bernice Grant at bgrant@law.stanford.edu.
