Entrepreneurship – (Prof. Patrick Gaughan/Prof. Gary Spring) [Law School Course – overlaps with the Business School Course but includes specific components specifically for law students].
This interdisciplinary course is being revised and expanded from last year’s offering. For the fall 2015, the law course will include two fundamental perspectives. Part of the course will focus on the entrepreneurial perspective (and be shared with the non-JD students in cross-listed courses). At the same time, the law school course will also focus on common legal issues related to the provision of legal services to entrepreneurs. The legal perspective will closely track many of the issues relevant to the traditional entrepreneurship topics and also regularly handled by the SEED clinic. This is an exceptional opportunity for ALL law students to acquire the skills that will improve both your employment prospects after graduation and your abilities to serve entrepreneurial clients and venture capital supported firms. The course will be taught by Patrick H. Gaughan, JD, DBA and Gary Spring, JD. Both Prof. Gaughan and Spring are on the UA law faculty. Prof. Gaughan has over a decade of experience at the Youngstown Business Incubator and has successfully obtained private equity investment in both high-tech and traditional investments. Gary Spring, JD, is a former partner at the law firm of Roetzel & Andress and is Director of the SEED Clinic.
As part of this course, you will learn the fundamentals of entrepreneurship – including many of the skills recently identified in a Harvard Law Survey of the skills most in demand by law firms representing businesses, entrepreneurs and private equity investors. For instance, 83% of survey respondents indicated that law students should take courses on Accounting and Financial Reporting. Likewise, 68% of survey respondents indicated that law students should take courses on Corporate Finance. Both of these topics will be covered as part of the Entrepreneurship and the Law Course.
The course will cover what lawyers need to know about the following:
• Business Plan Basics
o Identifying opportunities
o Understanding external market structures
o Understanding internal Resources
• The “Top-Down” approach to Pro Forma Accounting
o Understanding balance sheets
o Understanding income statements
o Understanding cash flow statements
• Fundamentals of Valuing a Venture
o Discounted Cash Flow
o Strategic Purchasers
• Plan Presentation Basics
• Due Diligence Fundamentals
• Venture and Deal Structures
Additionally, the law school course will contain modules on:
• legally establishing an llc
• Operating Agreements
• Nondisclosure Agreements
• Noncompetition Agreements
• Buy-sell Agreements
• Convertible Notes
• Tax issues
• Securities compliance
• Business Ethics;
• nsurance Issues;
• Independent Contractors vs. Employees;
• Term Sheets; Personal Guarantees; and
• Exit Strategies.
This is the sort of training that one needs to represent both small businesses and start-ups that become multimillion dollar companies. This course will include online video modules, a presentation and business plan. The course also includes group work.