Celia Bigoness

Celia Bigoness is a prominent legal academic and practitioner, currently serving as a Clinical Professor of Law and the Director of the Blassberg-Rice Center for Entrepreneurship Law at Cornell Law School. She has a strong background in corporate law, having practiced for seven years at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, where she specialized in areas such as project finance, leveraged finance, capital markets, and mergers & acquisitions across major cities including New York, London, and Paris.12

Education and Career

Celia Bigoness received her Juris Doctor (J.D.) from Yale Law School, where she was the editor-in-chief of the Yale Journal of International Law. She also holds an A.B. from Harvard University.13 At Cornell, she founded the Entrepreneurship Law Clinic in 2018, which was the first transactional law clinic at the institution. In addition to her role in the clinic, she teaches courses such as Introduction to Transactional Lawyering and organizes the annual Transactional Lawyering Competition at Cornell Law School.12

Contributions

Under her leadership, the Blassberg-Rice Center focuses on providing legal services to startups in the Ithaca area, covering a range of topics from branding to intellectual property and employment law. The center aims to enhance student participation and client access to legal resources, including plans for expansion into New York City-based services.24

Celia Bigoness's work exemplifies a commitment to integrating practical legal education with community service, fostering an environment where law students can gain hands-on experience while supporting local entrepreneurs.