Business and Entrepreneurship Law

Cincinnati Law’s business law curriculum integrates core and advanced classes with practical skills courses that allow students to hone the skills necessary to deliver legal solutions to business clients. 

The curriculum begins with a solid foundation in the areas of law relevant to business lawyers. All law students take Contracts in their first year. Other core courses that provide a foundation for business law expertise include:

• Business Associations
• Business Basics for Lawyers
• Federal Income Tax

Advanced courses delve deeper into sophisticated and more specialized areas of business law. During their second and third years, students select classes from the curriculum based on their more specific business law interests. Cincinnati Law offerings include multiple courses in the areas of intellectual property, commercial law, corporate law, employment law, and tax.

To prepare students for practice, Cincinnati Law also offers a number of skills-based classes designed to replicate the types of legal tasks performed by transactional attorneys on a daily basis. Taken primarily in a student’s second and third years of study, these practical skills classes prepare students for the challenges of transactional practice.

Cincinnati Law’s clinics, externships, and fellowships provide real-world business experiences where students gain a realistic and invaluable perspective on the day-to-day intersection of law and commerce. The UC College of Law has partnered with many companies and organizations to provide internships, externships, and educational business law opportunities for students. Students also can work part-time in their second and third years with many of the corporations and law firms located in the Cincinnati area.

The Entrepreneurship and Community Development Clinic (ECDC) offers free legal services to small and startup businesses and non-profit organizations. Students in the clinic provide advice to clients to areas including entity selection and formation; contract and lease preparation, review, and negotiation; corporate governance and regulatory compliance; trademark and copyright protection; and other legal issues faced by small businesses.

The ECDC also has partnered with area business accelerators , such as The Brandery and the Hamilton County Business Center, to give students unique opportunities to learn valuable hands-on legal and business skills (and earn compensation). Students work closely with innovative entrepreneurs, local lawyers, and nationally-respected business advisors in a dynamic business environment.

The Corporate Law Center selects three to five students annually as Corporate Law Fellows. Their activities include research on current corporate law topics and participation in activities to enhance their understanding of corporate law practice. Fellows are among the most attractive students in our placement pool for firms, businesses, and government agencies looking for attorneys with this specialized background.

Volunteer opportunities also are available. Any student who performs 15 or more hours of volunteer legal work receives an official transcript notation. The ECDC partners with Duke Energy to conduct an annual pro bono event that provides free legal services to local business owners and entrepreneurs. Students involved with the Tenant Information Project provide information about Ohio landlord-tenant law to the community. Law students also can provide income tax return assistance to low and middle-income families and the elderly as part of the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (VITA).

The term “business law” encompasses a wide range of professional careers. You will find Cincinnati Law graduates in the legal departments of corporations, as well as in other corporate departments that do transactional or regulatory work, such as contracts, compliance, finance, and human resources.

There also are opportunities in federal and state governments for graduates interested in business law. For example, you will find business lawyers working at the Department of Commerce, the Federal Trade Commission, the Securities & Exchange Commission, and the Small Business Administration, to name only a few. Bankruptcy courts, tax courts, or the US Court of International Trade also employ corporate attorneys.

Law firms with corporate law practice groups represent a diverse client base of business organizations in all areas of corporate law, including mergers and acquisitions, securities, real estate, taxation, bankruptcy, and corporate governance.

Our graduates work at organizations such as:

• Avon
• Children’s Hospital Medical Center
• Duke Energy
• Fifth Third Bank
• Kroger
• Luxxottica
• Medpace
• Nationwide Insurance
• Procter & Gamble
• Toyota Industries North America
• U.S. Department of Justice, Anti-Trust Division
• Regional and national law firms with corporate law practice areas