Essentials of Business and Law for Entrepreneurs: Ideas Empowered by Law
Creating a new business requires an understanding of a broad range of legal issues. Starting out, few entrepreneurs can imagine the number of legal pitfalls that can emerge. Lawyers and consultants are often highly specialized in one area of the law, but few have legal expertise across the universe of issues that could challenge a startup.
Through classroom lectures, simulations, and case studies, entrepreneurs and others who work with entrepreneurs, such as lawyers, consultants, and investors, will learn such foundational matters as the various ways startup entities can be structured and the advantages and disadvantages of each in regard to taxation, liability, governance, and growth—plus they will explore simple and complex capital structures and the implications of each for principals, employees, and investors. The practical hurdles of raising money are explained in detail: valuation, term sheets, plus venture capital versus angel investors, mezzanine financing, private placement, and IPOs.
For entrepreneurs operating, or seeking to operate, in the US, it’s critical to learn how US laws regarding intellectual property and cybersecurity may govern certain of their activities. The program will also cover key human resources issues such as US employment law and contract law. Finally, participants will acquire the know-how to manage a maturing startup and pursue avenues for future growth.
Course Details
Sample Topics
Each program can be customized for content, format, and delivery. Below are a few indicative topics that could be included in the schedule:
- Valuation and Capital Raising
- Intellectual Property Issues
- Growth and Liquidity Strategies: Managing Change
Featured Center
The NYU Law community boasts an extensive network of centers and institutes that provide insight and depth into the scholarship of this program.
Examples include:
Academic Director
Helen Scott
Helen Scott is the co-director of the Mitchell Jacobson Leadership Program in Law and Business, a program that includes student scholarships, mentoring, research, and curricular innovation at NYU School of Law in cooperation with NYU’s Stern School of Business. She currently co-teaches two of the Law School’s unique “Law & Business of…” courses in the areas of Professional Responsibility and Corporate Governance. Scott developed and administers the Law School’s fellowships in Social Entrepreneurship and in Law, Policy and Innovation. She is currently working with the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship on the development of a teaching certificate in social enterprise. Her seminar, Business Transactions Planning, was the first nonlitigation-based full-scale simulation course at the Law School. Along with Roy Smith of the Stern School, she developed and co-taught Entrepreneurial Finance to law and business students. Scott recently worked with the Kauffman Foundation on a project involving new ways of thinking about and teaching in the areas of entrepreneurship and innovation, one result of which is the eLaw section of the website www.entrepreneurship.org. She has served as co-chair of the Listing and Hearing Review Council of the NASDAQ Stock Market. She has also received the Legal Advocate of the Year Award from the US Small Business Administration for her work on the Angel Capital Electronic Network program. Scott remains involved with cutting-edge issues of corporate governance, financial reporting, and market globalization.
