Well known as jacks-of-all-trades, entrepreneurs can DIY themselves around many of the challenges associated with launching a new business. Issues like adhering to legal requirements, however, are harder to MacGyver. That’s why Bryant University is collaborating with the Roger Williams University School of Law to provide student entrepreneurs with legal advice free of charge.
Among the law students volunteering their time for the initiative is Rachel Maggiacomo ’21, an Accounting major and Legal Studies minor during her time at Bryant who has since excelled at Roger Williams. She recently returned to campus to provide in-person legal mentoring to the university’s up-and-coming founders.
The initiative is led by Ilisabeth Bornstein, J.D., a lecturer in Legal Studies at Bryant.
“As the pre-law advisor and as a faculty member who is a lawyer and teaches many law classes, I am frequently approached by students with legal questions about businesses they are starting or otherwise involved in,” Bornstein explains. “It is not appropriate for us to give legal advice to students in this context, so I frequently refer clients to the Business Start-Up Clinic at Roger Williams.
“Law school clinics are a great gift because they provide generally pro bono services to clients who meet whatever the clinic's threshold is; that’s usually financial need, and smaller-scale student businesses fit in that category,” she adds.
This summer, Bornstein arranged with the clinic’s director, Erika Dunyak, for Bryant students to receive free legal consultations on campus and via Zoom from Roger Williams law students. “This proved to be a great benefit both to our students and the law students, who had the opportunity to practice client interactions,” she notes.
Bornstein says the advice provided in the consulting sessions can be invaluable to young entrepreneurs.
“If you're a student at a business school, you get a lot of instruction about the business aspect of starting a company, and our business majors are required to take a course called ‘The Legal Environment of Business’” she says. “But on the whole, you're getting a lot more information about the business side of things than the legal side.”
The chats cover a wide variety of topics ranging from compliance documentation to how to incorporate a business to drafting contracts with business partners.
“Many Bryant students have innovative business ideas but may not yet have the resources, time, or confidence to seek out legal advice on their own,” says Maggiacomo. “These sessions help bridge that gap by giving them the opportunity to ask important questions they might not have considered about entity formation, contracts, liability, intellectual property, and other foundational issues that can significantly impact a young company’s future.”
“These sessions [give entrepreneurs] the opportunity to ask important questions they might not have considered about entity formation, contracts, liability, intellectual property, and other foundational issues that can significantly impact a young company’s future.”
Getting such guidance early “can help propel their ideas forward while preventing costly mistakes down the road,” she adds.
Bornstein estimates that about half a dozen of Bryant's current and aspiring entrepreneurs have signed up for consultations since the initiative’s launch. The next round of consults will be offered on campus in April.
Jared Pereira ’27, founder of the automotive detailing company The Shine Mechanic, was among the students who took advantage of the opportunity to sit down with a legal expert. On the brink of signing a contract to service a fleet of hundreds of vehicles owned by a regional energy company, Pereira found himself confronting a contractual obligation to contain and dispose of wastewater from his cleaning operation.
“The Roger Williams legal team helped me develop a clear, compliant plan for addressing this issue,” he says. “They provided guidance on how to meet [the company’s] requirements while also remaining fully compliant with applicable state and environmental regulations, including how contaminated water should be handled and disposed of.”
The consultation was so helpful and insightful that Pereira made an additional appointment to discuss how to incorporate his company. “That gave me more insight as I was approaching my first tax season having a payroll,” he says.
Pereira says that other Bryant student entrepreneurs he has talked to have similarly benefitted from the legal clinic’s services. As for Maggiacomo, she appreciates that the program has allowed her to give back to her alma mater and support the next generation of Bryant entrepreneurs.
“Having sat in class with classmates who went on to start their own businesses, I know firsthand that Bryant students have incredible ideas, and it was rewarding to play even a small role in helping those ideas develop,” she says.