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>And the relevance of this to startups is? It depends on how you define startup. If you are referring specifically to high tech startups, then the relevance i

>And the relevance of this to startups is? It depends on how you define startup. If you are referring specifically to high tech startups, then the relevance is fairly small. If you use the term more generally for recently formed, small companies then many fields require immediate access to lawyers. And for many of those, the more and cheaper the lawyers they can get, the better. HDI, a company I would cite as a recent success story here, requires frequent access to lawyers as part of its business model. >"barrier" has something to do with the relationship between cost and benefit. If the cost is 10% less but the benefit is 50% less.." You are completely right. Perhaps I should have more cautiously said "While the cost of living here is unfortunately high, it is less so than Silicon Valley so that is clearly not necessarily a major barrier in itself."

anamax 17y ago
>> And the relevance of [a local aw school] to startups is? > It depends on how you define startup. If you are referring specifically to high tech startups, then the relevance is fairly small. If you use the term more generally for recently formed, small companies then many fields require immediate access to lawyers. (1) Lawyers, yes, but you mentioned law school. I've seen plenty of "SV works because" stories that mention law firms, but I don't think that I've ever seen one that mentioned Boalt (Berkeley) or Stanford Law. (2) Why do tech startups have less need for a law school, or lawyers for that matter, than other kinds of startups? (Generally speaking of course, as you were.) Please be specific, because I don't see it.
- timwiseman 17y ago
  > (2) Why do tech startups have less need for a law school, or lawyers for that matter, than other kinds of startups? Being neither a lawyer nor a founder I am speaking based on assumption and conversations with certain business people, so take this with a grain of salt. As I understand it, most tech and especially software startups can grow to a substantial size with no need (or limited) need for a lawyer. They might come in handy for things like working with angel investors and initial incorporation, but as I understand it if the founders are bold and willing to read the fine print themselves, lawyers are not actually needed as long as you can avoid getting sued. Certainly many other fields can get away with no (or limited) legal involvement to start with, but some businesses absolutely require a lawyer's services on a regular basis. Most government contracts, especially ones that involve any kind of personal information have such specific and detailed requirements mandated by federal law that regular legal counsel is required. Similarly, I understand that the biomedical field is so filled with patents that are aggressively enforced (not just in the defensive portfolio sense that many tech companies build) that lawyers are essential. Also, any company involved in gambling in Nevada is carefully overseen and will have lawyers on retainer with the larger ones holding them in house.
  - anamax 17y ago
    I'd expect a Las Vegas law school to have special expertise in gaming, but does it have special expertise in other start-up relevant areas? Like I wrote, no one mentions Stanford Law, they mention Wilson Sonsini, so why would Las Vegas be different?
    - timwiseman 17y ago
      Strangely, Boyd's strongest area is real estate law. I have no idea what the reason is. But like almost all law schools it focuses on creating general JDs. Again I caveat that I am neither a lawyer nor a founder, but I think there is an advantage to having a law school that is not one of the top 10 present (hence no Stanford). People graduating from one of the top 10 law schools generally expect and are frequently able to command exceptionally high salaries straight out of school. What a lot of startups need in regulation-heavy fields (those dealing with gambling, government contracts, healthcare, etc) is large numbers of competent lawyers at the lowest price possible. In fact, I have seen cases where regulation requires a lawyer review certain types of documents and certify them, but they are not actually expected to reveiw them for anything in particular as far as I could tell. It was simply a requirement that a lawyer certify them. Now naturally the presence of a reasonable (by which I mean good enough to be competent but not so elite as to have graduates overpriced for a startup) is an advantage shared by many cities, but I think it is an advantage, and some of the other points I mentioned in favor of Las Vegas are somewhat more rare.

anamax 17y ago

>> And the relevance of [a local aw school] to startups is? > It depends on how you define startup. If you are referring specifically to high tech startups, then the relevance is fairly small. If you use the term more generally for recently formed, small companies then many fields require immediate access to lawyers. (1) Lawyers, yes, but you mentioned law school. I've seen plenty of "SV works because" stories that mention law firms, but I don't think that I've ever seen one that mentioned Boalt (Berkeley) or Stanford Law. (2) Why do tech startups have less need for a law school, or lawyers for that matter, than other kinds of startups? (Generally speaking of course, as you were.) Please be specific, because I don't see it.

timwiseman 17y ago
> (2) Why do tech startups have less need for a law school, or lawyers for that matter, than other kinds of startups? Being neither a lawyer nor a founder I am speaking based on assumption and conversations with certain business people, so take this with a grain of salt. As I understand it, most tech and especially software startups can grow to a substantial size with no need (or limited) need for a lawyer. They might come in handy for things like working with angel investors and initial incorporation, but as I understand it if the founders are bold and willing to read the fine print themselves, lawyers are not actually needed as long as you can avoid getting sued. Certainly many other fields can get away with no (or limited) legal involvement to start with, but some businesses absolutely require a lawyer's services on a regular basis. Most government contracts, especially ones that involve any kind of personal information have such specific and detailed requirements mandated by federal law that regular legal counsel is required. Similarly, I understand that the biomedical field is so filled with patents that are aggressively enforced (not just in the defensive portfolio sense that many tech companies build) that lawyers are essential. Also, any company involved in gambling in Nevada is carefully overseen and will have lawyers on retainer with the larger ones holding them in house.
- anamax 17y ago
  I'd expect a Las Vegas law school to have special expertise in gaming, but does it have special expertise in other start-up relevant areas? Like I wrote, no one mentions Stanford Law, they mention Wilson Sonsini, so why would Las Vegas be different?
  - timwiseman 17y ago
    Strangely, Boyd's strongest area is real estate law. I have no idea what the reason is. But like almost all law schools it focuses on creating general JDs. Again I caveat that I am neither a lawyer nor a founder, but I think there is an advantage to having a law school that is not one of the top 10 present (hence no Stanford). People graduating from one of the top 10 law schools generally expect and are frequently able to command exceptionally high salaries straight out of school. What a lot of startups need in regulation-heavy fields (those dealing with gambling, government contracts, healthcare, etc) is large numbers of competent lawyers at the lowest price possible. In fact, I have seen cases where regulation requires a lawyer review certain types of documents and certify them, but they are not actually expected to reveiw them for anything in particular as far as I could tell. It was simply a requirement that a lawyer certify them. Now naturally the presence of a reasonable (by which I mean good enough to be competent but not so elite as to have graduates overpriced for a startup) is an advantage shared by many cities, but I think it is an advantage, and some of the other points I mentioned in favor of Las Vegas are somewhat more rare.