Volume 159, No. 244

BY JACK SILVERSTEINLaw Bulletin staff writer

Douglas Cahanin had aproblem.

A second-year student at TheJohn Marshall Law School,Cahanin was realizing — as somany law school students do —that he was headed toward anuncertain future.He had already decided to

distinguish himself from futurecompetition by studying deriva-tives regulation when professorMichael D. Schlesinger spoke infront of Cahanin’s corporationsclass.The subject of the speech?

John Marshall’s BusinessEnterprise Law Clinic, known asBELAW.This was a chance for Cahanin

to gain, as he put it, “practicalexperience working with clientson real matters.”That meant helping a small

business owner, RobertAshmore, navigate the murkywaters of Chicago’s unregulatedpedicab market.For Schlesinger, BELAW’s

work on pedicabs was another ina long line of projects. ForAshmore, it was an effective wayto start his business.And for Cahanin, who

graduates in January and isworking as a legal intern at ErisExchange LLC, it was the oppor-tunity of a lifetime.He joined as soon as he could.The professorAfter 40 years practicing law,

Schlesinger wanted a change.In 2011, the longtime business

and transactional law attorney atRobbins, Salomon & Patt Ltd.who had been working at John

Marshall since 2004 as anadjunct professor left his law jobto teach full-time. It was then that he launched

BELAW.“Our mission is to provide pro

bono business and transactionlegal services to individuals andbusinesses that are starting upor growing businesses that havelimited financial resources thatmakes it difficult or impossible toengage legal counsel,”Schlesinger said. “We concen-trate on underserved, low- andmoderate-income communities.”Each semester, the clinic

generally enrolls 15 students andrepresents 25 to 30 clients.Students work in groups of twounder the supervision of businessand transactional lawyers, knownas faculty supervisors.“These are lawyers around the

city that supervise matters thatstudents are working on,”Schlesinger said. “Every piece ofadvice that’s given and workproduct submitted to a client isapproved by a faculty supervisor.”Once the students are

selected, Schlesinger leads thetask of finding their clients.“We do screening interviews

of people who are interested,”Schlesinger said. “And thenthose individuals get on our list.”Schlesinger works as one of

the faculty supervisors, whilealso charting the clinic’s courseand promoting it to business andpolitical leaders throughout thecity.“We’re interested in creation

and retention of jobs and overallpositive impact on the communi-ties where we direct our efforts,”Schlesinger said.“We do that through

community outreach efforts. Ourentire program is based oncommunity outreach in under-served communities. I speakbefore chambers of commerce,agencies of government thatsponsor economic development,attend business expos … and Italk about the pro bono legalservices that we provide.”The clinic has had a positive

impact on Schlesinger as well.“It’s the opportunity to teach

at a law school, to work with lawstudents, to really encouragethem or inspire them to engagein pro bono legal servicesthroughout their careers and tosee law students develop andgain confidence and graduatelaw school with a solid founda-tion in being a business andtransactional lawyer,”Schlesinger said.

The businessmanIn 2012, BELAW caught the

eye of Ashmore, a prospectivepedicab owner and operator.After graduating from MichiganState in 2003, Ashmore spentfive years traveling the globe as aconcert roadie. During his timein Europe, he became accus-tomed to bike riding, a practicehe took up when he returned toChicago and moved to LoganSquare.It was in Logan Square in 2012

where he met a Dubliner namedNiall Cahill. Cahill operated apedicab in Dublin.“He planted the idea of having

pedicabs in Logan on Milwaukee(Avenue),” Ashmore said. “Thatkind of connected with me,

because I had picked up anormal bike and been riding inthe city again and got comfort-able with getting around reallyquick.”Always the innovator,

Ashmore decided to start apedicab operation of his own — afleet of six cabs. He needed legalhelp to structure the business.“I was looking for some legal

document creation,” he said. “Iwas a small startup, so I wastrying to do it as cheap aspossible.”He was introduced to BELAW

through a friend who had alreadyworked with the clinic. A spotopened, and after the screeningwas complete, Ashmore was in.But a surprise surfaced as the

students worked on his case:They realized pedicabs were notregulated in Chicago.“There were already pedicabs,

but they were mainly in thetourism areas,” said Ashmore.He felt that the lack of regulationleft Chicago’s pedicab businessvulnerable to price gouging,uninsured drivers and unfaircompetition from out-of-staters.Wanting a legitimate business,

Ashmore and the BELAWstudents got involved in the city’slongstanding pedicab debate.The students eventually wrote awhite paper called “Wheelin’’Round Town: Pedicabs Are Hereto Stay,” which they presented toaldermen working on legislation,specifically 44th Ward Ald. TomTunney.With the help of the students,

Ashmore launched Roadie Cab inMarch of this year. He knows theroad to an official Chicagopedicab ordinance will be a longone, but he is happy with hisbusiness and pleased that heworked with BELAW.“Those guys could have told

me anything during the processand I would have considered it,”Ashmore said about thestudents. “They helped me set upeverything. So for me (the excite-ment) was being around thatcollege, creative, intellectualenvironment.“Even though it’s law and a

little stuffy, it was a fun projectto work with them on. And Ireally liked connecting withMichael too, a longtime Logan

Copyright © 2013 Law Bulletin Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission from Law Bulletin Publishing Company.

John Marshall’s BELAW program helpspedicab operator navigate murky waters

CHICAGOLAWBULLETIN.COM MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2013

Michael D. Schlesinger

®

Linking startupsto students

Square resident. Just hearingthe passion in his voice and theacknowledgement that what Iwas doing for the communitywas good.”

The studentLast summer, two months

after Ashmore launched RoadieCab, the BELAW students beganworking on their Chicagopedicab white paper. Along withSchlesinger and adjunctprofessor Kevin M. Hull of HullPartners Ltd., the paper wasproduced by six students: BlaiseBennett, Kelly Flesch, DeniseSakuta, Kayleigh Thomas,Melissa Webster and Cahanin.“Professor Schlesinger

contacted us shortly after (first)semester ended, right when thesummer was starting,” Cahaninsaid. “He reached out to peoplewho were going to be in theBELAW program asking if theyhad any time or wanted to getinvolved in some matters thatthey needed to work on over thesummer.“I didn’t have much going on

last summer. I was looking for away to get involved and get someexperience, and I offered to getinvolved in any projects they hadgoing on.”Since Bennett, Flesch, Sakuta,

and Thomas were graduating,Cahanin and Webster picked upthe slack on the pedicab whitepaper. The 22-page documentdetailed pedicab ordinances inother major American cities andcompared their circumstances tothose in Chicago.

“We did a report and posi-tioned ourselves as impartial,”Schlesinger said.“The purpose of this report is

to inform pedicab owners, thecity aldermen who are going tovote on this and the public of howthe proposed Chicago ordinancecompared with other ordinancesaround the country and to make

recommendations of what in ourview would improve theordinance based on that,” he said.For Cahanin, his BELAW stint

is already paying off.“I think the biggest thing is the

experience and the confidencethat comes along with experi-ence in meeting with clients andtalking with clients about the

issues that they have. WithoutBELAW, I would be goingthrough all this for the very firsttime right now, and that’s scary,”Cahanin said.“Having that confidence and

having done most of these thingsalready, I feel much morecomfortable dealing with clientsafter graduation.”

Copyright © 2013 Law Bulletin Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission from Law Bulletin Publishing Company.

Robert Ashmore, seen here in the Logan Square neighborhood, sought guidance from The JohnMarshall Law School’s Business Enterprise Law Clinic, known as BELAW, to jump-start his pedicabbusiness, Roadie Cab. BELAW links startups and growing companies to law students, providing probono business and transactional legal services. Casey Black photography