INSIGHT: CLINIC PROFILES
Small Business and Community Economic Development Clinic
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n 2015-16, student-attorneys in the Small Business and Community Economic Development (SBCED) Clinic, supervised by Professor Susan Jones and Friedman Fellow Etienne Toussaint, provided legal assistance to social entrepreneurs, innovative small businesses, and community-oriented nonprofit organizations in Washington, D.C. Their clients—including a student travel business, an international technology association, a benefit corporation using open data to promote organizational efficiency, and a nonprofit empowering at-risk youth and people returning to the community after periods of incarceration—presented teams of clinic students with a range of transactional legal issues that spanned corporate, tax, and intellectual property law. Students drafted a variety of contractual agreements related to the specific needs of each client and assisted them with copyright and trademark matters. SBCED Clinic student-attorneys also conducted two workshops on business entity formation and intellectual property law, one at a local co-working space and another at the GW School of Business. In the fall semester, third-year student-attorneys Jacquelyn DeVore, David Edmonds, Donald Graham, and Sara Helmers represented a social enterprise operating a global educational magazine for underserved girls in West Africa. Students helped the client become a nonprofit corporation in Washington, D.C., prepared documentation for federal tax exemption status, and negotiated an agreement with a 501(c)(3) private foundation to serve as a fiscal sponsor to the organization. Ms. DeVore continued this work in the spring semester, when she served as the Student Director of the SBCED Clinic.
Professor Susan Jones (far right) and Friedman Fellow Etienne Toussaint (far left) standing with their spring 2016 clinic students.
In the spring semester, third-year student-attorneys Jose Calves, Sara Kamal, Viviana Lowe, and Tyler Mann assisted a social entrepreneur seeking to cure asthma and raise awareness of important issues for asthmatics. They helped the client’s organization trademark the brand for an electronic home medical device, draft an agreement for fiscal sponsorship and other contracts, and prepare documentation for the creation of an affiliated nonprofit organization. Third-year student-attorneys Taylor Ball, Leah Farrar, Christina Fraziero, Nicole Goldman, Ty Johnson, Fanvin Shen, and Mary Youssef and second-year student attorney Angel Farjo advised a diverse set of clients, including a local vegan nutritionist with a published book on veganism, a nonprofit organization bringing art to students through theatrical performances, and a nonprofit organization specifically serving AfricanAmerican playwrights in the D.C. area. Adjunct Professor Kevin Peska, JD ’91, assisted Professors Jones and Toussaint in teaching and supervising the SBCED Clinic student-attorneys in the clinic’s practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. With the help of Professor Peska, student-attorneys successfully filed trademark applications for both nonprofit and for-profit clients and counseled their clients on how to protect and maintain their marks.
Additionally, in partnership with both the American University Washington College of Law Intellectual Property Clinic and the Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts, the SBCED Clinic hosted a successful “pop-up legal clinic” for artist-entrepreneurs seeking brief advice in intellectual property and business law. The clinic students’ impact reached beyond the law school, as they were able to engage with the greater D.C. community through meetings, educational presentations, legislative hearings, and other activities addressing entrepreneurship opportunities for formerly incarcerated individuals (e.g., returning citizens). In January 2016, the students drafted testimony for a public hearing on a bill designed to encourage and support entrepreneurship for returning citizens. Both Professor Susan Jones and Professor Etienne Toussaint presented testimony in support of the bill before a committee of the D.C. Council. In addition, SBCED Clinic students drafted an “Entrepreneurship Tool Kit for Returning Citizens,” which provides detailed information concerning how to start a business, draft a business plan, and identify relevant financing and tax information. The tool kit also provides a comprehensive list of community resources in Washington, D.C., for returning citizens to use at various stages in starting a business. n
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