Advising Social Enterprise Clients in a Transactional Clinic

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Session Type: Concurrent Sessions

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This CLE-type concurrent session will focus on advising social entrepreneurs in a transactional clinic. Many entrepreneurs come to transactional clinics and ask for advice on how to start a social enterprise. Social enterprise is the subject of numerous business school courses, start-up competitions, and community classes held in co-working spaces. Private foundations and local governments also view social enterprise as a form of community economic development and offer training and grant funding for social entrepreneurs. Solidarity economy advocates also see this as a time to push for more transformative structures for social enterprises, such as worker-owned cooperatives. As social entrepreneurs become the new “norm” in philanthropy, clinical law professors should be prepared to respond. This CLE-type concurrent session will teach clinical law professors the tax, liability, and governance law around forming and managing (i) dual for-profit and nonprofit entities and (2) worker cooperatives. We will also discuss how to advise start-up or small organizations on whether they have the administrative capacity to maintain a social enterprise entity or whether a traditional organizational form (such as a corporation or limited liability company) is more suitable for such organizations.