What makes the IJ Clinic different?
We act as wrap-around legal counsel for low-income entrepreneurs who are navigating myriad issues to build businesses in Chicago’s neighborhoods.
Students working in the IJ Clinic advise on complex and varied issues like:
- regulatory requirements
- financing deals
- hiring and firing
- ownership structures
- supply contracts
- protecting intellectual property…and much more.
IJ Clinic students hone core professional skills including:
- contract drafting
- negotiating
- statutory analysis
- delivering clear and concise advice
- translating business goals into legal strategy.
IJ Clinic students have an impact on Chicago neighborhoods in need. The IJ Clinic amplifies our clients’ efforts to create jobs, bring services to their communities, fill vacant storefronts and make an impact on their customers and neighborhoods. Interested IJ Clinic students may also work on pressing policy issues for low-income entrepreneurs. Students have researched policy reform ideas, negotiated with government policymakers, and drafted new ordinances and bills. Learn more about our policy work.
Student Testimonial
Students become trusted advisers who clients rely on as they make hard and exciting decisions for their businesses. Our clients learn they can involve us in a broad range of decisions about their operations, not just one-off transactions. As a recent IJ Clinic Student reflected, “One of the best things about the IJ Clinic is how closely and often we work directly with our clients. We’re talking with our clients at least once a week and sometimes even more.”
Client Testimonials
One client shared this with our students at the end of the academic year: “Before you go, thank you for everything that you’ve done [for us]… These few months flew by fast and your impact on our business plans went beyond our expectations. You gave us the power to add new options for important decisions and more confidence once our choices were made. [We]… quickly became able to move faster with more complex transactions. Great students ask good questions. And we got a lot of the right questions when we needed them to catch our attention.”
How Can I Learn More?
Additional details are in the FAQs page and presentation below. Feel free to stop by the IJ Clinic, located in the southeast corner of the first floor of the Arthur Kane Center (K108-K111), or call us at 773-834-3129 or email us at [email protected]