The Small Business legal clinic focuses on providing aspiring and existing small businesses the opportunity to meet with an attorney to discuss their business and transactional legal needs. The effort is proving to be an asset to the community. Based on client evaluations taken at the clinic, respondents generally agreed that the advice they received enabled them to improve their business practices. When asked what he learned from his experience with the clinics, one entrepreneur declared: “We feel more confident in expansion and growth with legal support and advice.”.
With the initiative’s pro bono placement program, the CED Project offers to match various types of low income small businesses with pro bono counsel. The placement program has matched various types of businesses with law firms. Some recent matches were for a wig store in Marshall Heights seeking assistance with its commercial lease negotiations; a start-up nail salon needing a review of its LLC operating agreement; and an Anacostia-based temp agency seeking counsel on a worker’s compensation matter.
Additionally, the Initiative ramped up its trainings for small businesses. In January, in conjunction with Winston & Strawn, the DC Government and the Small Business Development Center of Howard University, the CED Project provided a seven part training series for small contractors with the goal of equipping the attendees with the necessary legal information to compete for government-sponsored projects. The training course received the Best Bar Project at the 2007 Annual Business meeting of the D.C. Bar. Due to its success, the course will resume in Fall 2008.
For more information on the CED Project’s Small Business Initiative, contact Raymond Rull, CED Project Staff Attorney, at 737-4700, ext. 369.
