Florida Coastal School of Law hopes to move its Business and Entrepreneurial Law Clinic to Downtown next fall.
The school has been scouting locations in the urban core for months. Florida Coastal Dean Chidi Ogene said he went on one of those expeditions several months ago, where school officials saw three to five properties.
Two or three seemed to meet the school’s needs, Ogene said, though he would not disclose specific sites for negotiating reasons.
The school originally hoped to open the Downtown clinic in January, but encountered delays. The clinic did open this semester with five students at the law school’s Baymeadows campus.
Downtown makes sense, Ogene said, because of the proximity to the Duval County Courthouse and several of the clinic’s partners or potential partners — One Spark, Beaver Street Enterprise Center and Ignite, which is linked to Adecco.
Ogene arrived in Jacksonville in June 2013. Almost immediately, he said he heard people “bemoaning” the fact that the city didn’t have a “very vitalized Downtown.”
The law school’s presence can help in that respect, he said.
Ogene said the school also has discussed opening a small business center in Downtown.
Aundra Wallace, chief executive officer of the Downtown Investment Authority, said he first had a conversation with school officials in December.
Not only does having the law school have a presence Downtown make “complete sense,” Wallace said, it also opens the door to have additional conversations for Florida Coastal to have even more of a presence there.
“It brings individuals on a career path Downtown where there are a number of law firms,” Wallace said. “It gets them acclimated to potentially become residents, which would be a windfall.”
Kathy Hartland, who is the supervising attorney of the clinic this semester, said the five students are working with about 10 clients.
They’re helping entrepreneurs decide what type of businesses to set up, such as LLCs and not-for-profits; setting up bylaws and shareholders’ agreements; and dealing with contractual needs, she said.
One student has become “sort of an expert” in setting up 501(c)3 charities, Hartland said.
The legal services provided by the clinic are free, she said. The students also do breakout meetings at events with the local startup community.
Hartland wants about 15 students for next semester’s clinic. She’s also requested an adjunct professor to assist her in reviewing and supervising the work.
“We’ve got a lot of clients on hold waiting until January,” said Hartland, who joined Florida Coastal in 2006. She is a graduate of the University of Florida’s law school.
Wallace said he would support the law school seeking a retail enhancement grant from the DIA once a location is found. The grant helps with build-out costs of up to $20 per square or no more than 50 percent of the total build-out costs.
“We’re excited about the conversations we started last year and that they are bearing fruit,” he said.
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