Stanford Law School today announced the launch of the Entrepreneurship Clinic, one of the 11 clinics in the Mills Legal Clinic at the law school that offer students real-world experience while providing legal services to individuals and organizations.

The Entrepreneurship Clinic is the new incarnation of the clinic previously known as the Organizations and Transactions Clinic, where students worked on governance, contract, and legal advisory projects for nonprofits. Now, under the leadership of Professor Bernice Grant, alongside Clinical Supervising Attorney and Lecturer in Law Monica Pelayo, the Entrepreneurship Clinic is offering students the opportunity to counsel low-income entrepreneurs, small businesses, and nonprofits. 

“There’s no better place to have a clinic for law and entrepreneurship than Stanford Law School, where we can leverage the vast resources of Silicon Valley,” said Grant, who joined the law school in August 2024 from Fordham University School of Law, where she was a clinical associate professor, senior director of the Entrepreneurial Law Program, and the founding director of a similar clinic focused on counseling underserved entrepreneurs.  “When people think about Silicon Valley, they envision tech entrepreneurs who have a lot of resources, but there are so many other low-income entrepreneurs who, but for a clinic like this one, can’t afford to access those kinds of resources.” 

Grant, who previously worked as a Certified Public Accountant, brings a business-focused perspective to her leadership of the clinic and interactions with students. “As a business lawyer, it is certainly helpful to have an appreciation of business and accounting, and that impacts the way that I teach,” she says. “I always tell my students that the best business lawyers are those who are conversant not just in the law, but also business.”

“Professor Grant’s expertise and vision will strengthen our clinical program and foster important connections between the legal and entrepreneurial communities,” said George Triantis, JSD ’89, the Richard E. Lang Professor of Law and Dean of Stanford Law. “The Entrepreneurship Clinic represents the best of Stanford Law School: a commitment to hands-on education that prepares our students to tackle real-world challenges, while also addressing important societal needs.”

Jay Mitchell, who led the Organizations and Transactions Clinic from 2007 until 2023, said: “Bernice will be terrific. Her practice and teaching experience make her the ideal person to take the clinic into its next chapter. I’m excited about the learning and professional development opportunities she’ll create for her students, and about this new way for Stanford’s clinical program to engage with the community.”

Like all the clinics at Stanford Law, the Entrepreneurship Clinic allows students to spend a quarter working full time in the clinic, without having to balance a course load. When Stella Zhou, JD ’25, learned of the opportunity to spend her last quarter of law school in the new clinic, she jumped at the chance to gain experience working with entrepreneurs. She is slated to start as a corporate associate at a law firm in the fall. 

“Before starting my legal career, this is the ideal time to gain experience working with entrepreneurs and learning how to engage with them about their vision and ideas, as well as how to explain the legal side of things to a businessperson,” said Zhou, co-president of the law school’s Start-Up Law Project. “We spend a lot of time in law school learning the law, but ultimately what you do as a lawyer, especially a business lawyer, is interface with clients.”