CORAL GABLES, Fla. (March 13, 2017) – To finally eliminate “death by lecture” or passive learning (online or otherwise) and match talent development with modern skill needs, Miami-based startup, Unyted.co, developed a unique team learning and development technology platform. Unyted.co reimagined talent development in academic, corporate and workshop settings. It makes it easy for talent developers and educators to help people engage deeper learning and master the collaborative skills most needed today. As a bootstrapped, seed stage company, however, it would generally have no way to protect its intellectual property. To fill that void, Unyted.co turned to the Larry HoffmanIGreenberg Traurig Startup Practicum* at the University of Miami School of Law to get help from a Miami Law student with filing a patent application. Unyted.co is one of several patent applications Miami Law students in the Startup Practicum have helped clients file.
“The Practicum’s services are doing more than just helping our company’s critical needs," said Unyted.co founder Luis F. Martinez, J.D. ‘08. “They’re helping build South Florida’s startup community by giving us underdogs a chance to provide novel products to underserved markets, as we challenge larger companies and their wealth of resources.”
Launched just last year, Miami Law’s Startup Practicum connects students with startup clients to help on organizing, financing, talent, intellectual property, risk, regulation, and other legal issues that arise for entrepreneurs as they launch their new businesses and organizations. In just its first full year of operation, students in Miami Law’s Startup Practicum performed over 2,650 hours of work representing 42 different clients on a total of 76 matters.
“Working in the Startup Practicum has been an extremely valuable resource for gaining hands-on, real-world legal experience,” said third-year Miami Law student Dan Lader who assisted Unyted with preparing its patent application through his participation in the Startup Practicum. “Being able to help promising companies like Unyted afford legal services early in the business cycle is very rewarding and a great way to help spur innovation outside of traditional large corporations.”
Professor Dan Ravicher directs the Startup Practicum. He has represented both startup companies and investors since the 1990s dotcom boom. He is also a registered patent attorney, who has prosecuted, licensed, and litigated patents and other intellectual property, including software copyrights. Ravicher has also been an entrepreneur himself, founding businesses in various industries.
“Startups with patents get more funding at higher valuations than those that do not,” said Startup Practicum Director Ravicher. “This is why helping get intellectual property protection is one of the most important things our students do for our clients.”
* The Startup Practicum is supported by a gift made to the Law School by individuals at Greenberg Traurig in the name of Larry Hoffman. No other relationship between the Startup Practicum and the firm or individuals there exists.
The University of Miami’s mission is to educate and nurture students, to create knowledge, and to provide service to our community and beyond. Committed to excellence and proud of the diversity of our University family, we strive to develop future leaders of our nation and the world. www.miami.edu
The University of Miami School of Law’s mission is to foster the intellectual discipline, creativity, and critical skills that will prepare its graduates for the highest standards of professional competence in the practice of law in a global environment subject to continual ― and not always predictable ― transformation; to cultivate a broad range of legal and interdisciplinary scholarship that, working at the cutting edge of its field, enhances the development of law and legal doctrine, and deepens society’s understanding of law and its role in society; and to fulfill the legal profession’s historic duty to promote the interests of justice. www.law.miami.edu
