小生意，大影响

Walk into the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Program’s Small Business Brief Advice Legal Clinic, and it may seem like a typical pro bono resource center run by the Bar. 资深靠谱的滚球平台志愿者Ed Berkowitz
形容它是"合法的舞池.” Lawyers are positioned throughout the room, talking to clients in need of legal advice. 一些人在电脑上不停地点击. 文件散落在桌子上.

但该诊所与其他公益项目不同. The problems it addresses and the clients it serves are unique. “你在和企业家打交道, 那些真正想要做生意的人, people who are trying to get their commercial lives in place,” said Berkowitz, a retired attorney who was formerly in-house counsel for Kastle Systems. “他们不是陷入困境的人. 他们是真正想要成功的人.”

为那些濒临失去家园或失去医疗福利的人提供法律援助对该区服务不足的社区至关重要, 这家小企业诊所旨在以另一种方式帮助经济上处于劣势的人——通过刺激当地经济，为企业家提供自力更生的机会，创造更多的就业机会.

创造更多机会

The D.C. 靠谱的滚球平台事务所公益项目的社区经济发展(CED)项目创建于1999年，旨在为该地区以社区为基础的非营利组织提供无偿商业法律服务. In the fall of 2006, 由于缺乏获得法律服务的渠道，该项目启动了“小企业倡议”，以帮助有兴趣将小企业带入该区较贫穷社区的低收入企业家.

“In the late 1990s, 当地方政府破产时, 在特区低收入社区提供服务和创造就业机会的重担往往落在了当地的非营利组织身上,雪城大学的莫林·桑顿说, 公益项目的执行董事. “我们开始这个项目是为了向非营利组织和初创小企业提供法律帮助，这些企业真的想要有所作为，帮助他们实现目标.”

The Pro Bono Program began partnering with community development organizations, including Howard University’s Center for Urban Progress, 华盛顿地区社区投资基金, and the D.C. Department of Small and Local Business Development, that were also invested in supporting and creating small businesses in the District. 所有人都在同一个使命下团结起来:创造充满活力的商业走廊，在整个城市建立健康的社区.

CED项目的另一项首要任务是在该市失业率远高于全国平均水平的地区创造更多就业机会. According to the D.C. 就业服务处, Ward 8 in the District had the highest jobless rate in the United States at 25.2 percent in January 2011, followed closely behind by Ward 7 with 17.1 percent. 通过引进新业务, 居民将有更多的机会在附近找到工作，这对许多依赖公共交通上下班的人来说是一个关键因素.

“When there’s as much unemployment as there is now, a lot of people say now is the time to just go for it and start up,” said Cyril Crocker, vice president of development for the Menkiti Group. During the past year, Crocker has used resources from the CED Project for his company, a small residential and commercial real estate office in the Brookland neighborhood. “They’re ready to be entrepreneurial, sometimes out of necessity,” he said.

帮助潜在的企业家在创办新企业或申请发明专利的过程中导航, the CED Project offers walk-in legal clinics and business law training programs, 除了为小企业配对, 社区非营利组织, and low-income tenant associations with pro bono legal counsel.

Business Training

回到2010年秋天, Renee Ingram, president and chief executive officer of Diversified Enterprises Group, a startup information technology consulting company, took advantage of the CED Project’s eight-week business law training program.

尽管他拥有商业管理学士学位和金融硕士学位, 英格拉姆仍然觉得这些课程非常有用. “在了解哥伦比亚特区的一些细微差别方面，有一个复习课程是很棒的, 根据这里的一些法律,” she said. “我很喜欢这本书，并把它推荐给其他想创业的人, 或者是刚刚形成的业务, 为自己创业的一些基本概念打下良好的基础.”

小型企业班提供更新的课程, 新兴商业基础概述, 包括实体选择, employment, real estate, and contracts. 对团队协议特别感兴趣, 英格拉姆参加了一系列培训后，一家小企业诊所的靠谱的滚球平台审核了一份合同的草稿，以确保她写的合同是正确的.

“As a new business, 你希望能够与其他比你更有经验的公司或公司合作,” said Ingram. “[The attorney] reviewed my teaming agreement and did a thorough job of it. 这对我来说是一个巨大的好处.”

For Crocker, 培训课程有助于澄清对他的公司至关重要的重要商业法律问题. “一个反复出现的问题是……定义某人何时是雇员，何时是独立承包商,” said Crocker. 在确定组织是否需要提供某些福利时，指定是重要的.

“That was fascinating to me to really delve into that issue,” said Crocker. “既然我们做开发, pretty much every contractor we hire is considered an independent contractor. (后来)我觉得更重要的是要确保我们使用人员的形式和方式与(定义)一致。.”

通过参加工作坊, both Crocker and Ingram discovered another benefit: ample networking opportunities. “你和其他人在一起，你知道他们和你一样有动力接受额外的培训，学习一些东西. There’s an initial kinship around that,” said Crocker.

英格拉姆对此表示赞同，并与其他IT公司建立了合作关系，以寻求潜在的未来合作伙伴关系.

Walk–in Clinics

与结构化的培训计划不同，客户带着一系列问题来到诊所. Should I form a limited liability company or partnership? Which licenses do I need to start a barbershop or nail salon? 我可以为我的创意申请专利或版权吗?

“Very often, they don’t know what their problem is. It’s like going to a doctor and saying, ‘I don’t feel good.’ Somebody has to probe out and come out with a general idea. 这是一个房地产问题. 这是一个知识产权问题. 这是一个企业问题。.

While the typical questions revolve around basic business needs, occasionally lawyers are confronted with people who have real legal problems. Berkowitz remembers one man who came in with questions about buying a fast food franchise. “销售”特许经营权的人告诉客户试着经营一段时间，以确保他喜欢这样做.

“这似乎是一件完全合理的事情, except this trial period kept going on for literally a matter of months,” said Berkowitz. “这个家伙除了免费替这个人打理生意之外，什么也没得到. 整件事就是一场噩梦. He had signed all kinds of pieces of paper that he didn’t really know what he signed, and the seller kept waving all these documents at him.” In the end, 伯科维茨给他指出了正确的方向，并找到了一个人来为他提供法律援助，帮助他摆脱困境.

拥有知识产权方面的专业知识, Brian Bannon, a partner at Blank Rome LLP and regular volunteer at the clinic, 经常听到关于可能的发明的案例. “有些人有很好的想法, but you have to explain to them that it’s a long and complicated process,” he said. “你必须努力与人们一起解决问题，以了解他们的发明是否确实达到了可以获得专利的新颖性和(非显而易见的)程度.”

班农还引导客户完成创建自己的企业或营销产品的过程, 从获得启动资金, 到成立公司, to hiring employees. He tries to be realistic with many possible inventors, warning them of the daunting patent application and registration process. “It’s unlikely that an individual without a legal education—for that matter, 大多数靠谱的滚球平台都能独立完成,” he noted.

这并不是说他们的机会不可能. 拥有一个伟大的想法或从零开始建立一个非常成功的公司的可能性是美国梦的组成部分.

伯科维茨还记得上世纪70年代在康奈尔大学校友会会议上与企业家吉恩·桑伯格(Gene Samburg)的相遇. “我们只是偶然相遇，他说，‘我想创业，但请不起靠谱的滚球平台. Do you know any lawyers who might be able to assist me?’” Berkowitz had just formed his own firm and had zero clients at the time. “We got him started. 这是一项非常独特的业务。. “At the time, electronic office security stuff was unknown in Washington.”

一年来，桑伯格日以继夜地工作. “I was getting beat up by my partners wondering where the money was. Obviously, [Samburg] didn’t have any,” said Berkowitz. “At the end of the year, he called me up and said, ‘We had a very good year. 我知道你工作很努力. Send me a bill.’”

Samburg continued paying Berkowitz for the next 30 years. 他的公司是卡斯尔系统公司, 一个安全系统，现在保护超过2,在世界各地建造了000座建筑, 或者说将近4亿平方英尺的办公空间. 伯克维茨补充道:“我们说的是一个人.”

As Ingram noted, “Small businesses are the backbone of the economy here in this country.从后来在芒特普莱森特(Mount Pleasant)开了一家小店面的家庭面包店，到阿纳科斯蒂亚(Anacostia)的一家花店, 该项目已帮助430多家企业获得了开办企业所需的一些技能和信息.

“他们中的一些人(走进诊所)，你知道. You can look at them and say, ‘This guy is going to make it. 他真的会成功的，’”伯克维茨说. “He many not become General Motors, but you know he’ll do just fine.”

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By Thai Phi Le
摘自《华盛顿靠谱的滚球平台》，2011年6月
Reach D.C. 酒吧工作人员作家Thai Phi Le at [email protected].