You can often do an initial consultation with a lawyer for free. They can let you know what general options you have if any and then if you need them to execute on any of the options you pay them. They can give you an idea of the costs up front.
I've done this before in regards to a startup project I was working on with 2 others and the information was very useful and totally free.
He was one of my professors too. I tried to get into "Programming for Artists" but was never able to get into that particular one because the waitlist was always full.