This course introduces students to the various legal and business considerations involved in the representation of startup companies and in structuring venture capital transactions. The first portion of the course focuses on the key issues involved in forming and operating an emerging growth business (a “startup”), including selecting and forming a business entity, structuring the economic benefits and management control among various owners, protecting intellectual property assets and complying with securities laws. With that foundation, the second portion of the course focuses on the significant legal and business issues involved in a venture capital financing transaction from both the company and the investor perspective (with a look at “crowdfunding”). The course combines theory and practice in order to prepare students for the types of projects and challenges they will confront as transactional lawyers.
A knowledge of corporate and business associations law, as well as securities law and finance, will be helpful to a student in this course. That being said, there are no formal prerequisites, and the course is structured for beginners as well as for students with more subject matter expertise.