Community and Rural Enterprise Development (CRED) Clinic

About the Clinic

Spring 2025 will mark the launch of the Community and Rural Enterprise Development (CRED) Clinic. Students in the CRED Clinic will represent small businesses, non-profits, cooperatives, and small municipalities throughout Arkansas. Under Professor Norman’s supervision, students will be lead attorneys on their matters, interviewing clients, conducting research, drafting legal documents, and counseling clients on their options. Students will learn to approach lawyering from a client-centered perspective, developing a deep understanding of their clients’ goals and the context in which they operate, while fostering their clients’ autonomy and efficacy. Through client work and the weekly seminar, students will break down complex real-world legal issues, engage in self-directed study of new fields of law, manage professional relationships, and reflect critically on the ethical and strategic implications of their lawyering choices.

For Prospective Clients

The CRED Clinic represents small businesses, non-profits, cooperatives, small municipalities, and other organizations on a variety of matters, including forming entities, drafting contracts, researching legal compliance issues, applying for tax-exempt status, and navigating regulatory systems. All legal services are free of charge, though clients are responsible for out-of-pocket expenses such as government filing fees.

To request legal services from the CRED Clinic, please call the Legal Clinic office at (479) 575-3056 or email Professor Peter Norman at pnorman@uark.edu. We are open Monday-Thursday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. If your matter involves the kind of legal services we can provide, we will schedule a brief initial discussion and then send you an application form to complete. Applications received before December 15 will be considered for our Spring semester (starting in January) and applications received before August 1 will be considered for our Fall semester (starting in late August).

For Students

CRED Clinic students must be eligible for practice under Rule XV of the Arkansas Rules Governing Bar Admission. For transactional clinics such as CRED, Rule XV does not require students to have taken criminal procedure or evidence. However, students must have passed professional responsibility before entering the clinic. While not required, students will find it helpful to have taken courses in business organizations and/or non-profit organizations.

Like all legal clinics offered at the Law School, CRED can be personally rewarding, intellectually enriching, and professionally beneficial – and a major time commitment. Clinic responsibilities each week include, at minimum, a two-hour seminar, a one-hour supervision session, a one-hour team meeting, and at least ten additional hours committed to clinic work. Students should be prepared to work as many hours as needed to provide excellent representation to their clients.

If you would like to learn more about the clinic, please reach out to Professor Norman to set up a time to talk.