Australia’s leading independent law firm, Corrs Chambers Westgarth, continues its support of entrepreneurial students around the country with the announcement of a partnership between its CorrsEdge initiative and the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) startup accelerator program, and its QUT bluebox.
Corrs designed CorrsEdge to meet the specific legal needs of the startup community. It is a specialist service that provides active legal support and advice to student entrepreneurs, helping manage their legal needs across the entire business lifecycle.
QUT bluebox Accelerator is a three-month intensive program aimed at getting entrepreneurs and startups commercially ready. The program consists of education modules, mentorship from industry leaders and office space for startups to run their business. It takes a select number of teams and ensures they are supported as transition for entry into the market.
Corrs Special Counsel James Cameron and the firm’s Head of Client Technology Solutions Jason Jones recently launched the partnership when speaking at a special introductory session at the university. They provided QUT students advice on the knowledge and tools they need, via CorrsEdge, to ensure their start-ups are legally compliant and ready to receive investment.
The students who have enrolled will have access to CorrsEdge during the length of the course and for six months following the end of classes. Each start-up will have access to a special 30-minute general information session with one of Corrs’ specialist lawyers to discuss their business.
CorrsEdge will also provide guidance to each founding team through one-on-one consultations to advise on their businesses unique legal challenges, along with free-access to an online platform with ready-to-use legal document automation that founders can use in the early stages of their business.
“As part of our long-standing relationship with QUT, we saw this as a great opportunity for Corrs to collaborate with QUT bluebox and its enthusiastic group of entrepreneurs, helping them bring life to their amazing business ideas,” said Corrs Brisbane partner-in-charge, Helen Clarke.
“CorrsEdge will provide these students with access to high quality legal documents and support that will help them commercialise their innovations and give them an edge in securing funding and investment,” said Corrs Special Counsel James Cameron.
“This is a positive partnership with one of Australia’s leading firms and is an invaluable advantage to ensure innovation reaches its commercial potential,” Chief Entrepreneur in Residence for QUT bluebox, Dr Tim MacTaggart said.
Through its CorrsEdge initiative, Corrs is actively exploring opportunities to help support universities and accelerators across Australia. The firm currently has relationships with a range of organisations including the Wade Institute, Melbourne Accelerator Program (MAP), Springboard (for female entrepreneurs), University of Technology Sydney, Monash and RMIT. CorrsEdge currently has close to 300 entrepreneurs registered on the platform.