The recently launched Entrepreneurial Law Clinic just might make the City of Brotherly Love a friendlier place to start a business.

Launched this fall, the clinic aims to nurture the burgeoning startup community in Philadelphia, said Karl Okamoto, professor of law and director of the law school's Business & Entrepreneurship Law Program.

"Through discussions in Law and Entrepreneurship class last year, we talked about things lawyers could do to make Philadelphia a better environment for startups," Okamoto said, noting that the city has often labored in the shadow of communities like Boston, Austin, New York City and Silicon Valley.

Entrepreneurs commonly struggle with legal issues that have the potential to sink their businesses before they get off the ground, but they often lack the funds to pay lawyers.

Through the clinic, students work for a semester under the guidance of veteran lawyers to help entrepreneurs navigate legal matters from forming a new corporate entity to negotiating contracts.

Students gain experience in an important area of legal practice, while inventors and entrepreneurs benefit from free legal advice.

"This is an area of law in which I'd like to practice," 3L Nathan Howard said. "Entrepreneurs who launch startups put their livelihoods on the line to do this. That's appealing to me."

Howard and his classmate Meg Theranger are – as a team – working with graduate computer science students at Drexel on legal issues surrounding a mobile application they developed.

"There are different people working on the app, and we want everyone to be clear about their interests and rights," Theranger said. "Then they'll be able to seek investors."

The clinic incorporates varied opportunities for the students to pick the brains of accomplished business lawyers, who serve as advisors and mentors.

The advisors sometimes offer client-specific advice and sometimes simply share a meal to discuss general issues in entrepreneurial lawyering, Howard said.

"This is a way of bringing a really practical element to law school," said Neil Haimm, a partner at Drinker Biddle and advisor to clinic students.

While many law schools offer clinics that enable students to hone their litigation skills, few have given future lawyers a taste of work with entrepreneurs, Haimm said.

The clinic has already begun benefiting Philadelphia's entrepreneurs, said Steven Rosard, an attorney who has long helped established and emerging businesses and will begin leading the program in January.

Students not only provide direct legal services to startuups, they're also giving workshops and presentations that benefit the entrepreneurial community, Rosard said.

"They're alerting companies that there are legal issues they need to be aware of to start off on the right foot," Rosard said. "It's making a contribution to the start-up community."