The University of Idaho Law School Small Business Legal Clinic

The Small Business Legal Clinic (SBLC) was established to provide third-year students with hands-on business transaction experience in a live-client setting.

Background

In 1992, the American Bar Association’s Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar issued "The Report of The Task Force on Law Schools and the Profession: Narrowing the Gap," also known as the MacCrate Report. Central to the MacCrate Report was a section entitled "The Statement of Fundamental Lawyering Skills and Professional Values," that set forth 10 fundamental lawyering skills and four professional values "which new lawyers should seek to acquire." The identified skills include problem solving, legal analysis and reasoning, communication, negotiation, counseling, and recognizing and resolving ethical dilemmas. In discussing the need for skills and values education in the law school curriculum, the MacCrate Report acknowledged the valuable contribution that law school clinics make to a law school education, noting that clinics are a key component in the development and advancement of skills and values throughout the profession.

Full Story: http://www.uidaho.edu/law/academics/clinicsprofessionalskills/clinics/smallbusinesslegalclinic

Traditionally, in the development and advancement of skills education, law school clinics have focused on teaching litigation and alternative dispute resolution skills. The SBLC (a) compliments the existing clinical programs by focusing on transaction and other nonlitigation skills, and (b) represents one strategy in meeting a stated objective of the College of Law of "implementing a broad skills curriculum in business and entrepreneurship law, including client counseling and drafting in a real-life setting."