Lawyers’ group offers small business survival assistance

Nearly three dozen law firms in 30 different cities in the United States say they will offer legal advice to small business owners on COVID-19-related legal issues. The advice, offered remotely, will include examining aspects of federal and state stimulus bills that could provide financial assistance or other benefits.

The Washington-based Lawyers for Good Government Foundation (L4GG) has launched a program called Small Business Remote Legal Clinic, offering pro bono legal consultations for small business owners “to help them understand and act upon the options available under the COVID-19 stimulus package, and other grant and loan programs that may be available to them,” the group says.

Businesses with 25 or fewer employees will qualify for a free 45-minute consultation with pro bono attorneys who L4GG says “can help answer legal questions in certain areas and help small business owners determine the best path forward for their businesses.”

Small business owners interested in a consultation can sign up via the L4GG website. L4GG says those signing up will be notified when an attorney and time slot becomes available in their city.

“Almost out of the blue, small businesses are suddenly struggling for their very survival,” says Jacqueline Haberfeld, pro bono counsel at global law firm Kirkland & Ellis LLP who is based out of New York City. “It is the professional duty of the legal community to come together to offer advice and guidance to them so they can continue to provide incomes for their employees, and goods and services to their communities,” she adds.

L4GG’s executive director Traci Feit Love comments, “Hundreds of thousands of small business owners, many of whom already operate on very narrow margins, are struggling with questions about how their businesses will survive the COVID-19 pandemic. This small business legal clinic can help them navigate this unanticipated economic crisis, and provide them with guidance they desperately need at this time.”

The group, which describes itself as a nonprofit network of more than 125,000 legal advocates with lawyers in all 50 states, says the COVID-19 stimulus package passed by Congress reportedly includes $350 billion in aid to small businesses. That includes up to eight weeks of cash flow assistance to companies with 500 employees or fewer, as long as they maintain their payroll during anti-coronavirus measures.

A pilot Small Business Remote Legal Clinic program will launch in New York City in late March in partnership with the City Bar Justice Center and will expand to additional cities in the weeks ahead, L4GG says.