4/8/06

Clinic Conference Draws Small Business Leaders and Entrepreneurs

Business and legal leaders from across the country will gather at a conference hosted by Northwestern University School of Law's Small Business Opportunity Center (SBOC) to discuss such issues as social entrepreneurship, financing a small business and developing new ideas.

Offering the latest on entrepreneurship and small business issues, the Small Business Opportunity Conference will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, April 8, at the School of Law, 357 E. Chicago Ave.

Randall Kaplan, president and chief executive officer of JUMP Investors, a Los Angeles-based private equity and venture capital firm, will deliver the keynote speech. Kaplan also is a co-founder of Akamai Technologies, Inc. An Internet infrastructure company with a market capitalization exceeding $4 billion, Akamai serves nearly 20 percent of the world's Web traffic.

“The conference will provide great opportunities for networking with leaders of the small business community, a vibrant sector of the economy,” said Thomas Morsch, clinical professor at the School of Law. “The leadership that our students have showed in organizing such a conference is unprecedented.”

Admission to the conference is free for those who register on-line, and $10 at the door. Contact Student Board Marketing Directors, John Gribbin, or Liz Hudson, for more information about the event.

The SBOC is a nonprofit, student-based clinical program affiliated with the Bluhm Legal Clinic. The SBOC gives law students, working under the supervision of professors, the opportunity to provide affordable legal services to entrepreneurs and nonprofit organizations focusing on job creation and economic development in the Chicago area. For more information, visit the SBOC Web site.