The Scoop on Free Legal Services for Wisconsin Entrepreneurs

Join us for a discussion with Anne Smith and Nathan Hammons, Directors of the Law & Entrepreneurship Clinics at UW-Madison Law School and Marquette University, respectively. Smith and Hammons will talk about how these Clinics work, the services they provide, who is eligible for and how to access their services, and resources they have to help your business launch and grow.

Both L&E clinics provide pro bono legal services for Wisconsin businesses that lack access to the traditional legal marketplace. Operating like independent law offices, they use law students, supervising faculty and private sector attorneys to provide legal services inn areas like business entity formation, corporate governance, contracts, financing and more.

Speaker(s):

Anne Smith is Director and a co-founder of the Law & Entrepreneurship Clinic at the UW Law School. Previously, her practice focused on general corporate law and mergers and acquisitions. She was General Counsel for global life sciences company Promega Corp. and for insurance holding company Winterthur U.S. Holdings, Inc. Anne is also a co-founder of Madison Seed Accelerator, Inc. and serves as Board Member of Delta Dental of Wisconsin. She is a board member of StartingBlock Madison, a developing entrepreneurial hub.

Nathan Hammons launched and is Director of the Marquette Law & Entrepreneurship Clinic (LEC) in 2015. He also is a Clinical Associate Professor of Law at Marquette. He previously was the principal attorney in his private practice in which he represented entrepreneurs and small businesses with a focus on early-stage tech startups in the Midwest. Earlier in his career, Nathan represented Fortune 100 clients at international law firm Sidley Austin LLP, served as general counsel for DePaul University and was Appellate Court Attorney for the New York Supreme Court. He is also a co-founder Simply Contracts LLC, a legal startup.

This discussion will be moderated by Brian Walsh, Business Development and Technology Commercialization Consultant at the Wisconsin Center for Technology Commercialization.

Co-Sponsor(s):

Grasshopper meetings are presented monthly through a partnership between the Center for Technology Commercialization (CTC) and 5 Lakes Institute to help entrepreneurs and innovators move forward. Presenters with expertise in specific technologies, equity investment, partnerships and other areas share best practices and spur thought-provoking discussion.