The Queen’s Venture Law Society (QVLS) has just announced a slew of new partnerships to bolster experiential learning for Queen’s Law students interested in business law.
Nataly Dil and Heather Bonnell, both Law’20, co-founded QVLS in Spring 2018 to help connect law students with start-ups, venture capitalists and innovative industries. By organizing events and producing digital content, they aim to engage local businesses while offering students opportunities to gain practical experience. QVLS’s executive members include Jake Vogl, Law’19, as well as Jerome Biroo, Jenna Calderon and Henry Machum, all Law’20, and Emma Wall and Marc Vani, both Law’21.
The team’s signature partnership with the Queen’s Business Law Clinic (QBLC) seeks to provide learning opportunities for first-year Queen’s Law students.
“Both Nataly and I volunteered last year with the QBLC while we were in first year,” says Bonnell, “but there wasn’t a formal volunteer program for the QBLC like there is for Queen’s Legal Aid. With QVLS, we want to help first-year students get involved in business law or in the start-up/venture law space. We view our partnership with the QBLC as a meaningful way to bridge that gap.”
Dil and Bonnell hope that the program helps first-year students learn the basics of business law. The team will assign a legal issue to each volunteer, who will in turn provide an overview of that client’s available legal options. These overviews will become helpful QBLC promotional materials in the form of posters and presentations – which will simultaneously help the QBLC promote its services and inform Kingston entrepreneurs of relevant developments in the law.
Student volunteer Alizeh Alvi, Law’21, speaks highly of what this opportunity has meant to her at this stage in her legal education.
“My undergraduate background is in science,” shares Alvi, “and seeing innovative entrepreneurs with science backgrounds, disrupting the market with their new business ventures, is what attracted me most to Law. I wanted to help grow a company from the very beginning, and the QVLS’ new pilot program with the QBLC will give me that chance. I am excited to start learning about a lawyer’s role in building a start-up. By engaging with legal practitioners in the field, I have broadened my understanding of what a lawyer can accomplish.”
Beyond its partnership with the QBLC, the QVLS boasts a new sponsorship from the Dunin-Deshpande Queen’s Innovation Centre (DDQIC). This collaboration links Queen’s Law with the thriving entrepreneurial community on campus, and gives students international exposure to innovation.
“Just this month, I went to Boston with DDQIC for the MassChallenge Awards and a tour of the Boston innovation ecosystem,” says Bonnell. “It was an amazing opportunity to learn more about this kind of work from world-class facilities and programs like MassChallenge, MIT and the Cambridge Innovation Centre.”
The QVLS has also partnered with Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP and its start-up program, Blakes Nitro, which connects emerging ventures with the firm’s impressive investor network. This collaboration will consist of a four-session “StartupSeries” that invites guest speakers in law, business and venture capitalism to describe an emerging venture’s life cycle and its legal implications. If students participate in at least three of the four sessions, Blakes Nitro and the QVLS offer them a certificate of completion.
“Many of these innovation networks stem from national firms who have well-connected entrepreneurs-in-residence and start-up programs, like Blakes,” admits Dil. “We thought that it would be great to connect with them, and promote both lawyers and clients as our guest speakers. Given that law is a client-serving industry, why shouldn’t law students be trained to reflect upon legal issues from a client-focused perspective? We want to understand the qualities that clients value most in a lawyer, so we can more effectively cater to their needs.”
StartupSeries’ first session, “Ideation + the Lawyer’s Role”, took place on October 29 and approximately 50 students attended. Guest speakers included Marc Shewchun, counsel at Blakes and chief architect of the Blakes Nitro project, and Dan Forte, Chief Operating Officer of Portl Media. The next StartupSeries installment, titled “Protecting Ideas + Innovations,” is scheduled for November 19. Future topics are titled “Capital Structure, Raising Capital + Implications” and “Growth + Exit.”
The QVLS is also spearheading its digital “Industry Focus” series, a content-based project intended to highlight such high-growth industries as cannabis, social enterprises and artificial intelligence that are facing complex legal challenges,. “Industry Focus” will consist of infographics and interviews with legal and industry practitioners.
“We want to produce social media content along with our events, because we know how busy Queen’s Law students are,” acknowledges Bonnell. “It can be difficult to attend every single club event during the school year. With our Industry Focus series, we aim to leverage our online platforms to share information on industries that fascinate us.”
Despite the many associations keeping the QVLS busy these days, they are always open to collaborating with other campus groups. For instance, the QVLS has joined with the Queen’s Technology Law Club to promote the intersection of technology, innovation and the law as part of a “TechNOVation” lecture series later in November. This partnership will expose students to legal technology, intellectual property law and professionals operating in the space.
Students can get involved with the QVLS, and stay up-to-date on their upcoming events, by liking their Facebook page. Students are also invited to attend the QVLS’ next StartupSeries on November 19, 1:00- 2:30 pm.
By Justin Murphy