Originally posted in ENG News

It is the nature of innovation to raise new questions, and at the intersection of entrepreneurship and legal matters, complex challenges often arise. A partnership between engineering and law students at UF will explore real-world situations related to innovation by applying a multidisciplinary approach.

A series of workshops will enhance the understanding and communication between two professions that often don’t overlap in an academic setting. The first workshop, offered earlier this fall, looked at ways that future lawyers can build “win-win” relationships with engineering clients.

Professor Daniel Sokol and students from the Levin College of Law will be working with the Engineering Innovation Institute’s assistant director David Whitney and his students. Both professors are enthusiastic about pairing entrepreneurship expertise and engineering creativity with an understanding of the law.

Whitney’s engineering students focus on solving problems aligned with the National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenges, and pertain to 21st century technologies like the Internet of Things. Sokol’s students learn to apply legal tenets to real-world situations involving entrepreneurship and innovation.

Future workshop topics will include intellectual property, venture formation, operating agreements, and investor term sheets.