Listen to this articleCentral Islip-based Touro University Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center has launched a small business legal assistance clinic, providing free legal services to businesses with 10 or fewer employees in Nassau and Suffolk counties.
Funded through a grant from the U.S. Small Business Administration, the clinic aims to help women and minority-owned small businesses. The clinic provides expertise in such areas as incorporation, negotiation and lease drafting for commercial space, bylaws and employee and personnel practices as well as other basic legal issues.
The clinic aims to offer regular networking and educational programming for small businesses. And it plans to develop partnerships with local small business organizations to provide resources and educational programs to their members.
“Legal matters can be intimidating for entrepreneurs and pose real stumbling blocks for small businesses,” said Elena Langan, the dean of Touro Law.
The clinic, she said, “will provide much needed help to startups while providing valuable hands-on experiences for our students.”
Directing the clinic is Touro’s Assistant Clinical Professor of Law Denise Marzano-Doty. A 1994 graduate of Touro Law Center, she served as a research editor on the Touro Law Review. More recently, she served as the senior staff attorney for the Senior Citizens Law Program Clinic.
In addition to serving the community, clinics at Touro Law provide students with the opportunity to represent clients with legal problems and to work with experienced attorney-professors. Under the close supervision of faculty, clinic students advise clients and appear on their behalf in court and at administrative hearings. The clinics are designed to provide students with first-hand experience while honing essential professional skills such as interviewing, drafting legal documents, and investigating and developing evidence.