Brooklyn's Progress
October/November 2007

BY JILL D’AMICO

One of the biggest hurdles to starting your own business is the learning curve – most people know little to nothing about financing, permits, real estate, and customer service before they try and make their entrepreneurial dream a reality.

Luckily, thanks to public and private efforts, business services have grown by leaps and bounds for those ready and willing. One of the best examples is the Brooklyn Business Solutions Center (BBSC), part of the New York City Department of Small Business Services’ Business Solutions Center efforts, found in all five boroughs.

Along with financing help, start-up assistance and free classes and seminars, BBSC offers legal assistance. What seems like a daunting element of starting your business is made easier under the guidance of Carl Sherman, a lawyer with 45 years of experience in all phases of business development. With the help of BBSC Director Rick Russo, Mr. Sherman has spearheaded the BBSC’s efforts to assist small to medium-sized existing and start-up businesses with limited capital, managerial staff and knowledge with the legal aspects of starting and running a successful business.

"The legal services component of Business Solutions has emerged as a critical element in serving micro-enterprises throughout the borough,” said Mr. Russo. “An essential part of our business start-up counseling is legal assistance, ranging from entity formation to contractual and lease review."    

BBSC clients are referred to Mr. Sherman, who then pre-qualifies and assigns them to the Center’s appropriate legal partners.

He has forged relationships with a number of legal firms throughout New York City, such as Nixon Peabody, Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP, the Lawyers Alliance for New York, Neighborhood Entrepreneur Law Project, Lewis & Hand LLP, Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts and Citigroup Inc.’s legal department.

Educating Clients
One of the biggest aspects of legal help is education, according to Mr. Sherman.

The availability of legal assistance is valuable, as micro entrepreneurs are financially vulnerable and in no position to fail. Working with lawyers can greatly increase their chances for success, according to the BBSC.

The BBSC’s legal services will help with the basics – business structure, tax categories, leases, licenses, and the like, as well as go into the specifics of your business.

By recognizing the needs of each client, the BBSC is able to point them towards the services to help them with the formation of a business structure. This includes providing the client with referrals to both pro bono and moderately priced legal services, as well as helping clients with the proper procedure when working with lawyers.

Pro Bono Legal Help
For a business to retain pro bono services, there are some stipulations. For instance, the business must benefit the community. The very words – often shortened from pro bono publico – mean “for the public good” and is common in the legal profession to provide services to those who are unable to afford them.

Specifically, the BBSC’s legal services state that to be eligible for pro bono services, a person must:

• Lack the financial resources to engage fee-based legal services
• Be of low income and/or a minority
• Have a for-profit business that exists in, or will assist in, developing an economically distressed neighborhood, or serve and employ an underserved community
• Need assistance with a matter related to business law – specifically transactional law, as no litigation will be considered for assistance.

That said, if you should not fall into one of the above categories, it does not mean you cannot avail of the BBSC’s legal services. Mr. Sherman has contacts at many law firms that will work with referred clients for a low or moderate fee. The BBSC’s legal services can also connect clients with law firms specializing in the arts.

Future Goals
In the future, the legal services arm of the BBSC wants to work on creating more awareness of their programs and services. After a wildly successful workshop held on June 12, entitled “Starting a Non-Profit” drew crowds and helped many who attended, Mr. Sherman announced that “we are trying to establish other workshops” that clients can look forward to attending.

The BBSC has found that workshops and seminars offer a chance for experts to come in and share their expertise as well as network and help people one-on-one.

Rene Archer had a vision of a non-profit community organization he wanted to start, but needed help with filing papers and application wording. He worked with Mr. Sherman at the BBSC and attended the “Starting a Non-Profit” seminar.  Two weeks later, his application to the Lawyers Alliance of New York was accepted and he was paired with a law firm that started working on papers to form his corporation and grant him tax-exempt status.

“Working with Mr. Sherman was excellent,” said Mr. Archer. “I started out being blind as a bat, not knowing any of the legal ramifications, but knowing exactly what I wanted to do.”

“The legal help referral was able to get me to a place that on my own, I could not have gotten to,” he said.

With any luck, Mr. Archer will soon open the doors to the Neighborhood Intervention Center for Empowerment Zone – which will offer his community child care, literacy classes, gang intervention and computer training – knowing it could not have been possible without the help of the BBSC’s legal services.