MU to provide entrepreneurial legal assistance in SWMO

The University of Missouri School of Law will provide legal assistance to southwest Missouri entrepreneurs through a regional initiative announced earlier this year.

The school's Entrepreneurship Legal Clinic will put law school students in place to work with small businesses and startups through the Supercharge Southwest Missouri program, according to a news release. The legal services will be provided at no cost to local clients.

Mizzou's law school joins the Supercharge effort organized by Missouri State University’s Efactory business incubator and the Missouri Small Business Development Center at MSU. The initiative is providing free services, including expert consultants and business mentorships, through a $250,000 state grant.

“This partnership with the University of Missouri School of Law’s Entrepreneurship Legal Clinic is another powerful tool in the Supercharge Southwest Missouri toolkit that serves our region’s entrepreneurs and small-business owners," Efactory Executive Director Rachel Anderson said in a provided statement. "We regularly work to build partnerships with providers who can offer no-cost or low-cost services to those who are building early-stage ventures in southwest Missouri.”

Efactory Assistant Director Paige Oxendine said there is no cost to the incubator or the SBDC at MSU for the Entrepreneurship Legal Clinic's services. Law students will work with accepted clients remotely with options to meet in person, she said, noting the Mizzou partnership is ongoing and officials with the law school will determine how many southwest Missouri business clients are accepted.

To work with the clinic, companies must not otherwise be able to pay for legal services, according to the release.