Cleary Gottlieb has partnered with NYC’s Department of Small Business Services—through its Women Entrepreneurs NYC program—to launch WE Legal, an initiative to provide free legal clinics to women entrepreneurs.
Recognizing the gender gap among small business owners in New York City, the WE Legal program provides one-on-one legal clinics for low-income women entrepreneurs to guide their decisions to start, operate, and grow their businesses. These clinics, staffed by Cleary lawyers and attorneys from other leading organizations, offer legal advice on topics such as business formation, by-laws, contracts, and other corporate legal matters.
“Cleary is excited to partner with the NYC Department of Small Business Services through Women Entrepreneurs NYC,” said Cleary partner Francesca Odell. “Through our pro bono practice, we have a long-standing commitment to supporting the City’s small businesses to help them formalize and grow. We now look forward to working with WE NYC in this targeted program to help address some of the legal obstacles women entrepreneurs face and seeing them truly thrive.”
The launch of WE Legal will take place on September 26, 2018, and will be presented in partnership with the Cardozo-Google Patent Diversity Project. Led by Cleary partner Sandra Flow and counsel Sandy Rocks, the Cleary team will partner with attorneys from JP Morgan Chase to offer legal advice at the launch. Future WE Legal clinics will be hosted at Cleary’s New York City offices on a regular basis as well as other New-York based law firms.
WE NYC is dedicated to helping women start and grow their businesses. Since 2015, WE NYC has delivered nearly 7,000 free educational, networking, and financing services to women throughout the five boroughs.