LegalZoom Partners with USC Marshall School of Business to Foster the Next Generation of Social Entrepreneurs

GLENDALE, Calif., Aug. 16, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- LegalZoom.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: LZ), the leading online platform for legal and compliance services, has partnered with the University of Southern California (USC) Marshall School of Business to amplify the learning opportunities offered through the Brittingham Social Enterprise Lab (BSEL). The BSEL is a Center of Excellence that equips USC students, faculty, and staff with the business skills and resources to develop financially incentivized solutions to societal problems. It offers the country’s only Master’s program dedicated to social entrepreneurship.   

As part of this partnership, LegalZoom will support the BSEL in multiple ways, including participating in lectures and establishing a $30,000 scholarship that will be granted to deserving students in the Master of Science in Social Entrepreneurship degree program. The partnership also allows the two organizations to be connected for internship, mentorship, and employment opportunities. For BSEL graduates who go on to start their own social entrepreneurship ventures, LegalZoom will provide up to $5,000 in free services to support their business formation and compliance needs.

“LegalZoom was founded on the idea of breaking down barriers to quality legal services to help entrepreneurs and individuals protect their businesses, ideas and families. Through USC’s one-of-a-kind program, we will be able to help empower the next generation of social entrepreneurs to bring creative thinking to address pressing societal issues,” said Catherine Davie, Head of Social Impact at LegalZoom.

The BSEL offers an undergraduate minor in social entrepreneurship; a graduate certificate in sustainability and business; an MBA concentration in sustainability, society, and business; and a Master of Science in Social Entrepreneurship. This partnership with LegalZoom supplements the many resources offered through the BSEL, including a Social Entrepreneur-in-Residence program and an influential research initiative led by Dr. Jill Kickul.

“Our students at the Brittingham Social Enterprise Lab are inspired and driven to take on the world’s social challenges through entrepreneurship,” said Professor Adlai Wertman, founding director of the BSEL. “With LegalZoom’s support, we’ll be able to make our unique Master’s degree more accessible to students looking to make sustainable impact in their own communities.”

This partnership builds upon LegalZoom’s social impact efforts. In March, the company announced a partnership with the Accion Opportunity Fund (AOF), the nation’s leading nonprofit small business lender. The partnership provides support to AOF’s Small Business Relief Fund, delivering urgent financial aid to small businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. LegalZoom continues to look for opportunities to partner with leading organizations around the country in order to further our mission and efforts to help small businesses and their families, and will be announcing additional partnerships in the coming months.

About LegalZoom
LegalZoom, Inc. (NASDAQ: LZ) is a leading online platform for legal and compliance solutions in the United States that is on a mission to democratize law. LegalZoom operates across all 50 states and over 3,000 counties in the United States and has more than 20 years of experience navigating complex regulations and simplifying the legal and compliance process for its customers. Driven by its core value that every business deserves the full protection of the legal system and a simple way to stay compliant with it, LegalZoom helps its customers form and protect their businesses, their ideas and families. In 2020, 10% of all new LLCs and 5% of all new corporations in the United States were formed through LegalZoom, enabling small business owners to apply their energy and passion to their businesses instead of the legal and regulatory complexity required to operate them. In addition to business formations, LegalZoom offers ongoing compliance and tax advice, trademark and copyright filings and estate planning documents to protect small businesses and the families that create them.

About the Brittingham Social Enterprise Lab (BSEL)
The Brittingham Social Enterprise Lab (BSEL) is a Center of Excellence at the USC Marshall School of Business that equips students, faculty, and staff with the business skills and resources to develop market-based solutions to the wicked problems of the 21st century. Through education, community building, research, and professional development, the Brittingham Lab serves as the hub for social entrepreneurial efforts at the university. We are dedicated to fostering the next generation of enlightened, responsible business leaders and social entrepreneurs.

About the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business
USC Marshall is a global school in the heart of Los Angeles, a learning lab where students draw on the region’s cultural diversity, entrepreneurial mindset, and economic power. The unrivaled Trojan network and our experiential learning environment produces leaders with the skills to turn ideas into outcomes for the real world, right now. For more, visit marshall.usc.edu.

Contacts

Bryan Curran
LegalZoom
bcurran@legalzoom.com

Allison+Partners
Alexandra Gardell Kreuter
press@legalzoom.com