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The Transactional Law Clinics consist of the Business and Non-Profit Clinic, the Real Estate Clinic, the Entertainment Law Clinic, and the Community Enterprise Project. These clinics provide legal assistance to small businesses, entrepreneurs and community organizations for business formation, contract review and negotiation, commercial financing, leasing, community economic development, real estate purchase and sales, business acquisitions, intellectual property, nonprofit formation, permitting, licensing, and other transactional legal services.

In every respect, the Transactional Law Clinics operates as a professional law office in the service of clients; this clinic offers the opportunity to gain experience on topics such as client interviewing and intake; case management; contract drafting; negotiation skills; ethics; and legal analysis.

How to Register

The clinic is offered in the Fall and Spring semesters. You can learn about the required clinical course component, clinical credits and the clinical registration process by reading the course catalog description and exploring the links in this section.

Meet the Instructors

Noel Roycroft

Deputy Director; Clinical Instructor

Noel Roycroft joined the Transactional Law Clinics of Harvard Law School as a Clinical Instructor in 2018.  Before coming to Harvard, Noel was an associate in the corporate department of Ropes & Gray, LLP and a member of the firm’s asset management group where she focused her practice on representing investment products, their boards, and managers in transactional, regulatory, and compliance matters. Noel was also previously a fellow and associate counsel with the national office of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Prior to gaining her law degree, Noel worked in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, where she was Chief of Staff to a Committee Chair and State Representative. Noel received her B.A. from Bowdoin College, graduate certificate in non-profit management from Northeastern University, and J.D. from American University’s Washington College of Law.

Carmen Halford

Clinical Instructor

Carmen Halford joined the Transactional Law Clinics of Harvard Law School as a Clinical Instructor in 2021. Before coming to Harvard, Carmen worked as a transactional associate at the New York firm Kleinberg, Kaplan, Wolff & Cohen, P.C. where she concentrated her practice on mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity financings and general corporate matters. She regularly counseled individuals as well as U.S. and foreign enterprises across a wide breadth of industries, cultivating extensive experience in primary and secondary equity sales of private companies, secured and unsecured financings and other complex commercial transactions, and also regularly acted as outside general counsel to many of her clients. Prior to that position, Carmen was a global transactions associate at the New York office of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. Carmen obtained her J.D. from Harvard Law School and her B.A. in International Studies with a minor in Chinese Studies from the University of South Carolina. Prior to her legal studies, Carmen worked in the marketing department of CBS Interactive (China) in Beijing.

Patricia Alejandro

Clinical Instructor

Patricia Alejandro joined the Transactional Law Clinics as a Clinical Instructor in 2022. Prior to joining TLC, Patricia worked as a staff attorney at TakeRoot Justice in New York City, where she supported community-based organizations and coalitions by providing transactional legal services to worker cooperatives, not-for-profits and small businesses, as well as providing support with policy development and community education efforts. Patricia was previously a transactional associate at White & Case LLP in New York City, where she assisted in the management of international project and asset finance deals, private and public offerings, and other corporate transactions. She has also taught negotiation and leadership at Bay Path University in Massachusetts. While at Harvard, Patricia was a teaching assistant in TLC’s Community Enterprise Project and in the Winter Negotiation Workshop. Patricia’s experience also includes alternative dispute resolution, international human rights, transitional justice and democracy development. Patricia received her B.A. from Yale University, and her J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Erin Cho

Clinical Instructor

Erin joined the Transactional Law Clinics as a Clinical Instructor in the Fall of 2024. Before coming to Harvard, Erin worked as an entertainment lawyer at The Walt Disney Company and Netflix, where she negotiated deals and drafted agreements for rightsholders, writers, directors, producers, performers, and other talent for scripted television series. She also previously practiced transactional law as a corporate associate in the Los Angeles office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, specializing in M&A and investment fund transactions. Prior to her legal career, Erin was a sixth-grade teacher for the Los Angeles Unified School District through Teach For America and an English teacher for the Seoul public school system. Erin received her B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, and J.D. from Stanford Law School.

Staff Members

Alexander HornProgram Administratorahorn@law.harvard.edu

In the News

  • From Incarceration to Entrepreneurship

    [Originally published by Harvard Law Today, September 19, 2024] A Boston-area collaboration supported by Harvard’s Transactional Law Clinics is bringing business skills to returning citizens Sep 19, 2024 By Olivia Klein When Wayne Lane finally returned home, the challenges ahead felt nearly insurmountable. Needing time to mentally heal from eighteen years in a Louisiana prison

    September 19, 2024

  • ‘Do not be afraid to pick up the phone’

    [Originally posted by the Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs, “Keeping Tabs”] Aug 19, 2024 By Olivia Klein Keeping Tabs is a Q&A series that follows alumni on their careers after graduation, the lasting impacts of their clinical and pro bono experiences at Harvard Law School, and their experiences in a variety of sectors of

    August 20, 2024

  • Serving Boston entrepreneurs in the Transactional Law Clinics

    [Originally posted on December 19, 2023, on the Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Program blog] Dec 19, 2023 By Reema Doleh ’25 Growing up in south Brooklyn, the entrepreneurial community and the immigrant community often overlapped. Every small business that lined our street was owned by first-generation Americans. The small business community serves as

    January 30, 2024

  • ‘Advancing economic parity and justice’ in the Transactional Law Clinics

    [Originally posted on January 8th, 2024, on the Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs blog] Jan 08, 2024 By Hurya Ahmed ’25 “Just as medical students need to complete hours in a hospital in order to graduate, every law student should be required to have clinical experience before entering the workforce.” The words of

    January 9, 2024