Startups and Unmet Legal Needs

Authors

Alice Armitage, Startup Legal Garage
Evan Frondorf, Institute for Innovation Law, University of California Hastings College of the Law
Christopher Williams, Wheeler Institute for Water Law & Policy, University of California Berkeley Law
Robin Feldman, Institute for Innovation Law, University of California Hastings College of the Law

Abstract

Our survey results demonstrate that startup companies are exposed to a wide variety of legal needs from an early stage: when attorneys associated with the Startup Legal Garage were asked to handle a company’s most pressing legal needs, the average startup received assistance with over three distinct legal matters over the course of a thirteen-week academic semester. These issues often spanned multiple categories. Although matters frequently touched on a variety of topics within companies, strong similarities emerged in the types of issues faced by all startups in our sample. Almost 90% of the legal matters addressed by Startup Legal Garage teams fell within the categories of general corporate formation, contracts, and nonpatent intellectual property.

Recommended Citation

Armitage, Alice; Frondorf, Evan; Williams, Christopher; and Feldman, Robin (2016) "Startups and Unmet Legal Needs," Utah Law Review: Vol. 2016: No. 4, Article 1.
Available at: https://dc.law.utah.edu/ulr/vol2016/iss4/1