Anoo Vyas

Examines the basic forms of business organizations, including the law of sole proprietorships, partnerships, and corporations. Topics include the authority and responsibility of partners and the relationship between corporate directors, officers, shareholders, and creditors. The course will also cover the principles of agency law.

Students, supervised by a law school professor, spend one semester representing entrepreneurs, small businesses and non-profit organizations in the South Coast area of Massachusetts. Work may include drafting corporate documents, preparing state and federal filings, conducting legal audits, researching legal issues, and reviewing contracts. Students may also research new developments in the law and make presentations to the appropriate clients, their boards of directors, and community audiences.   Clinic students attend a weekly two-hour seminar that will provide training in the relevant legal topics, as well as in practical legal skills. Students will reflect on and consider ethical and other issues arising in practice. Students will average 10 hours weekly on their clinical work. In addition, this course affords students an opportunity for the development of a professional identity. Professional identity focuses on what it means to be a lawyer and the special obligations lawyers have to their clients and society. The development of professional identity involves an intentional exploration of the values, guiding principles, and well-being practices considered foundational to successful legal practice.

Students who have completed the Community Development Clinic (LAW 640) may be invited to participate in the Advanced Community Development Clinic in a subsequent semester. Advanced Clinic students will continue to work with clients, expanding their knowledge of clinic-specific substantive law as they further develop their lawyering skills. Advanced Clinic students may also assist with the first-semester course, mentor students, participate in programs for the public, and engage in a writing project.