About the clinic
The Nonprofit Structure and Strategy (NSS) clinic provides legal services to Iowa-based nonprofits. Our goal is to improve access to legal services for nonprofits and strengthen the community infrastructure in Iowa while educating and empowering the next generation of Iowa attorneys.
Through the clinic, law students are supervised by experienced attorneys and provide advice to nonprofit organizations on a variety of legal topics, including:
- Nonprofit formation and governance
- Transactional research, drafting and counseling
- Legal health assessments for nonprofit organizations to evaluate alignment of their organizational structure, governing documents, operational practices, and current law
- Community education workshops, board trainings, or CLEs
The NSS clinic is directed by June Tai, an experienced attorney and clinical professor. It is its own law firm housed in the Larned A. Waterman Iowa Nonprofit Resource Center, where two full-time attorneys provide resources and services for nearly 400 unique entities per year.
Director
June Tai
Information for interested students
The Nonprofit Structure and Strategy clinic is a 6-credit course, graded according to the law school’s numeric scale. In addition to work on client matters, students attend a weekly 2-hour seminar and a separate supervision meeting.
The NSS clinic takes eight second- and third-year students each semester. Either Business Associations or Nonprofit Organizations: Structure, Governance and Strategy are required. Introduction to Income Tax is recommended.
An online application is available each semester in October and March in accordance with the clinic application timeline.
Information for interested clients
Our capacity is limited, so there is no guarantee that we can take your matter. Legal services are provided pro bono, but clients are responsible for all out-of-pocket fees and other expenses associated with the representation (such as state filing or application fees).
Our program assists nonprofits without current legal representation. If your organization has an existing attorney-client relationship, we cannot provide support unless your attorney provides express written consent for us to assist with specific matters.
We take clients twice a year: in September and mid-January. If you are interested, please complete the client application.
Requirements for clients
- Be an Iowa-based organization or present a matter involving Iowa laws
- Have clearly-defined legal needs that can be accomplished by students within one semester
- Deadlines for the services should be consistent with the educational mission of the clinic and the semester schedule
- Must be appropriate for students and meet an educational goal for the course
- Consent to having a law student work on the matter
- Must be responsive to the clinic’s student attorneys and faculty
What we don’t handle
- Litigation
- Accounting/preparing tax returns; tax issues outside of tax-exemption
- Specialty areas such as patent prosecution, securities, immigration, bankruptcy
- Writing business plans
Clinic staff
June Tai
Dave Bright
Brenda Steinmetz
Support the NSS clinic
Thank you for your interest in the clinic! If you'd like to support our work, donations go far to help us expand access and education for Iowa's nonprofits.