Abstract

If you received a letter threatening legal action on your research, startup, or scholarly publication, where would you turn? Many universities are unequipped to support students or faculty with legal issues—at a time of unprecedented growth for entrepreneurship and research that often reaches beyond the imagination of the law.

At MIT , students and community members faced decades of tragic encounters with the legal system over projects in wearable electronics, security research, open hardware innovation, digital currency, and scholarly journal access. In 2015, after a year of advocacy within MIT , the Institute collaborated with Boston University to establish a two-part legal clinic offering free legal support to students and faculty.

UK universities are also doing the same. Clinics like Queen Mary’s qLegal offer free, specialised legal support on intellectual property, employment contracts, business structure, and the regulations that apply to a project. By involving law students in clinic work, these clinics also integrate practical experience as a core part of legal education.

In this talk, hear about the legal risks of working on innovative research or startups, lessons from two university law clinics, and practical advice on what to do if you have a legal question.