Law and Entrepreneurship: The Art of the Deal - Regional Differences in Representing Growth Companies

The entrepreneurial spirit knows no geographic boundaries. But the founders, managers, and the lawyers who advise them operate in vastly different atmospheres. Innovation depends on multiple actors, including law firms, venture capital funds, universities, and other institutions. Corporate governance rules and the regulatory environment also spur or inhibit growth. Silicon Valley lawyers, for example, are said to operate in a looser environment, providing as much value through deal coordination and networking contacts as through technical legal advice. Is this a model we should replicate in Boulder? Is Boulder more like the West Coast or East Coast? What should we aspire to? What are the legal, institutional, and regulatory factors that encourage innovation?

The aim of the conference is to explore these questions of regional differences from descriptive, theoretical, and practical perspectives. The first panel will focus on the descriptive: what are the regional differences? Professor Victor Fleischer (Colorado) will moderate a discussion among VCs and lawyers with experience in both Silicon Valley and Boulder. The second panel will focus on how political economy affects regional advantage: Professor Vik Khanna (Michigan) will present a paper on corporate governance reforms in India and how legal change has affected growth there. The third panel, led by Professors Fleischer and Scott Peppet (Colorado), will focus on practical and ethical issues unique to representing growth companies.