How We Work

Law students, under the supervision of a practicing attorney, take the lead in representing clients. The students enroll in the clinic for the academic year (September to May) generally and receive credit and a grade for their participation. Through the clinic, students get hands-on experience working on legal matters for real clients, and clients receive focused, high-quality, and free legal representation. In all aspects of our work, we strive to empower our clients to become independent and self-sufficient.

Our Clients

The clinic works with New York City-area nonprofit and community-based organizations, small for-profit businesses, worker cooperatives, social ventures, and neighborhood-based entrepreneurs seeking legal advice to start or operate their organization or enterprise.

We select clients based on a variety of factors, including the anticipated educational benefits to the clinic students and whether the prospective client can otherwise afford to pay market rates for legal services, the client's potential impact on communities, and the timing of the client's needs. Generally, the clinic’s services are best suited to nonprofit clients who have received or identified guaranteed sources of funding or for-profit businesses that have started providing goods and/or services, and in each case, can dedicate time and energy to the work with the clinic.

Clinic services are typically limited to those whose household income does not exceed 500 percent of the Federal Poverty Guidelines. For 2018, that reflects income under $60,700 for a household of one, $82,300 for a household of two, $103,900 for a household of three, $125,500 for a household of four, $147,100 for a household of five, and $168,700 for a household of six. For businesses with multiple owners, a majority of owners should be under the 500 percent threshold.

What We Do

The clinic advises on a variety of transactional and business law matters, including legal entity selection and formation; business strategy; governance (by-laws, operating agreements); advising on and negotiating transactions; drafting, reviewing, and revising agreements (contracts, leases) and form documents (policies, handbooks); and federal income tax exemption applications.

What We Don't Do

The clinic does not litigate matters, create business plans, develop loan packages, or prepare tax returns.

Becoming a Client

If you are interested in becoming a clinic client, complete our online application form, as completely as possible.You can also call the clinic at 212.431.2100, ext. 4742 and leave a message with your contact information. We will follow up with you once we receive your application. We accept applications year round; however, the clinic runs only from September to May with limited ability to work on matters over the summer.

Filling out the application form does NOT create any attorney-client relationship and does NOT guarantee that the clinic will represent your organization/business. The clinic accepts clients on a case-by-case basis. You have the right to keep looking for a lawyer or decline our services (if offered). While we do our best to respond, given the volume of applications we receive, we may not be able to respond to all applications.