16 | November/December 2022 | BAEC Bulletin In the Public Service
The Small Business Legal Clinic Relaunches Public Drop-In Clinics BY NEHA M. KARAMBELKAR The Western New York Law Center, Inc. is home to the Small Business Legal Clinic (SBLC), the only legal clinic in WNY that provides free legal services to small business owners and entrepreneurs at all stages of their business life cycle. Services include business formation, document review, contracts, insurance, employees, taxes, buying/ selling/dissolving a business, and more. In addition to these services, the SBLC also helps clients develop their network of third-party technical and business advisors, who provide free mentoring/business planning services, and free or low-cost training. This is accomplished through our relationships with several small business partner organizations. By introducing our clients to our small business network, they receive additional non-legal assistance at critical times in their business life cycles, thereby increasing their potential for success. The SBLC’s main goal is to help our clients create and sustain their business. In New York, the entrepreneurship rate among low-income people (0.42%, or 420 entrepreneurs per 100,000 low- income residents) exceeds the national entrepreneurship rate for people of all income levels (0.30%). Small businesses are the backbone of the local economy. Historically, over 100 business certificates are filed in Erie County every week, which means that approximately 6,000 small businesses are formed in the county every year. This data suggests that low-income entrepreneurs are starting businesses in significant numbers. During the pandemic, we saw an uptick of business formations and continue to see this trend post- pandemic. We are also receiving more and more calls from small business owners facing commercial eviction and commercial foreclosure with the pandemic-related moratoriums lifted. We meet with clients daily via Zoom. Our virtual model was adopted during the pandemic to serve clients remotely but has stuck around since it became a more efficient way to provide transactional services to our clients. Many of our clients are also juggling full-time employment while they get their businesses up and running, so having the WESTERN NEW YORK LAW CENTER
convenience of logging onto a meeting with our clinic during a lunch break at work allows them to meet with us during business hours. Our virtual model has also allowed us to serve folks who reside outside of WNY and in other counties across the state, including downstate. The SBLC recently relaunched public drop-in clinics in July of this year, which had been on hold since March of 2020. We host four drop-in clinics per month with a few of our small business partner organizations at various locations around Western New York. Our public drop-in clinics allow visitors to meet with an attorney on site to receive legal assistance with their business. These clinics have been particularly helpful in reaching small business owners who may not know of all the resources available to them in WNY’s small business ecosystem. Our drop in clinics are held at the following locations on the following days/ times: 1) Westminster Economic Development Initiative (WEDI), 436 Grant Street, Buffalo, NY 14213, on the 1st Monday of the month from 1-3 p.m.; 2) Women’s Business Center at Canisius College, 2001 Main Street, Buffalo, NY 14208, on the second Wednesday of the month from 10 a.m.-12:00 p.m.; 3) The Exchange at Beverly Gray, 334 East Utica Street, Buffalo, NY 14208, on the third Wednesday of the month from 3-6 p.m.; and 4) the Small Business Development Center at Buffalo State College, Cleveland Hall, 1300 Avenue, Room 206, Buffalo, NY 14222, on the last Friday of the month from 10 a.m.-12:00 p.m. by appointment only (call 716-878-3573). For more information or to request services, please contact Neha M. Karambelkar, the Managing Attorney for the SBLC, at 716-855-0203 ext. 133 or at nkarambelkar@wnylc.net. • “they receive additional non- legal assistance at critical times during their business life cycles..”
NEHA M. KARAMBELKAR Western New York Law Center
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