” … to be enacted in America over the past half-century”  (The Economist)

More about Bayh-Dole here, in The New England Journal of Medicine. A very recent and very short piece arguing for needed changes to Bayh-Dole:

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1306553

As we’ll be spending quite a bit of time discussing innovation, and as an accompaniment to Dick Cox’s presentation tomorrow (2/25/14), I thought I would post some information about the 1980 Bayh-Dole Act, which created opportunities for universities (and other institutions receiving federal research dollars) to own and commercialize their intellectual property.

You’ll want to pay particular attention to the rotating images in the upper-right hand corner of the page, which give some examples of novel inventions commercialized by the universities where they were developed.

http://www.b-d30.org/

I found an interesting article written in response to “Top 10 reasons why entrepreneurs hate lawyers” that offers advice on how to work with a lawyer at a startup. See the article here.

I like this article because it shows the value lawyers provide outside the traditional “legal advisor role.” One example mentioned in the article is the fact that lawyers can be a great source of “deal flow.” After our discussion in class and after reading the various articles on this topic, it seems to me that lawyers struggle with entrepreneurs because we don’t do a good job of showing value. To many, we are looked at as expensive and arguably unnecessary “buzz kills” that  provide little value beyond providing legal protection that may or may not be needed in the future. We need to do a better job communicating why what we do is important, and focus on ways to better display and ultimately provide value. The article may help at least provide food for thought on how to structure your practice or market yourself for those who plan on entering this area.

I came across this interesting article on WSJ.com. Perhaps even more interesting than the perspectives that these experts offer is how their critiques differ based on their backgrounds.

A UChicago Management Professor thinks health care costs, inflation, and interest rates are the most pressing issues for entrepreneurs our age – a very traditional view of barriers. Other older experts say that our web savvy actually could hurt us when trying to connect to real people. Either way, an interesting read.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jonathan-askin/what-the-facebook-didnt-l_b_4269219.html

This article highlights a couple of ways that lawyers and entrepreneurs can work together.  One line that seemed especially applicable to people in this class is, “Lawyers must learn not just to morph ventures to satisfy law.  We must learn to morph the law to suit the evolving nature of business and society.”  Also, in mentioning that “technologies are dissolving jurisdictional boundaries and distinctions,” the article evokes questions about the shifting role and importance of cyberlaw and conflict of laws.

Family-owned businesses make up over 80% of the private sector in the Middle East and North Africa and their sustainability is crucial for the regional economies.  Young family business members from across the MENA region gathered in Dubai to attend Tharawat Family Business Forum’s 3rd annual Arabian NextGen conference. With this year’s theme focusing on ‘From Idea to Market’ the next generation of family business leaders were shown how to turn a business idea into market success, and understand the entrepreneurial journey by learning from case studies and research.

It is interesting how entrepreneurial education is being pushed to young members of family businesses with the hope that teaching people how to be an entrepreneur will facilitate the growth of start-ups and small businesses in Africa and the Middle East.

https://www.zawya.com/story/Next_generation_of_family_business_leaders__entrepreneurs_of_tomorrow-ZAWYA20140217094437/

This article suggests that most lawyers make bad entrepreneurs, mainly because the way that lawyers are taught to think shuts down nearly every entrepreneurial instinct.  Lawyers are taught to forecast problems and to remove ambiguity and uncertainty, while entrepreneurs must understand and be comfortable with risk and uncertainty.  The author believes that the psychology and mindset of entrepreneurship should be taught in law school to inform the lawyers who may eventually leave law practice to enter the world of entrepreneurship and also to help lawyers better understand their entrepreneurial clients.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/awake-the-wheel/201308/why-most-lawyers-make-terrible-entrepreneurs

I don’t think entrepreneurs think quite this badly of us …