Small businesses and nonprofits in Cincinnati will soon have access to free legal help.
The University of Cincinnati in January is set to launch an Entrepreneurship and Community Development Clinic, as part of UC's
College of Law.
The clinic will be staffed by a handful of third-year University law
school students who will be gaining college credit for their work. The
clinic will offer free legal services to small and startup businesses,
as well as area non-profits, which cannot afford to pay for such
services otherwise.
Services will include assistance and counseling on entity selection and
formation; contract/lease preparation, review, and negotiation;
corporate governance and regulatory compliance; trademark and copyright
protection; and other legal issues customarily faced by small
businesses. The clinic will not provide litigation services.
Lewis Goldfarb, the new director of the Entrepreneurship and
Community Development Clinic, is a former accountant and licensed Ohio
CPA. Before coming to UC, he was in-house counsel for Honda of America
Manufacturing. Before coming to UC, he was in-house counsel for Honda of America
Manufacturing, a business owner, and a law school professor, teaching
similar clinics at Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon and
Wayne State University Law School in Detroit, Michigan
Goldfarb is excited about clinic's potential to work with the local business and nonprofit community.
"It is a much needed service for the Cincinnati business community," Goldfarb said.
"There
are a lot of small nonprofits that provide critical community services,
and don’t have big budgets. We can provide legal services to those
nonprofits to help them with that work," Goldfarb said.
The clinic, which will initially be staffed by four to six students, is a win-win for students and businesses.
"Students
get valuable experience and the clients and aspiring entrepreneurs,
with limited means, will get critical legal needs met for free," he
said, adding. "Hopefully this will help businesses and will revitalize
certain (economically struggling) neighborhoods."
Goldfarb is reaching out to areaincubators and working with local media to spread the word about the clinic and its services.
Those interested in the clinic's services can reach Goldfarb at (513) 556-1092 or by email at
[email protected].
Writer: Feoshia Henderson
Source: Lewis Goldfarb, director of UCs Entrepreneurship and Community Development Clinic
You can follow Feoshia on twitter
@feoshiawrites
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