On December 2, 2021, VOLS’ Legal Director Peter Kempner testified before a joint oversight hearing on “Supporting Veteran Entrepreneurship” held by the New York City Council’s Committees on Small Business and Veterans. VOLS’ testimony highlighted the wide range of legal needs of veteran small businesses and entrepreneurs and pointed out the limited scope of the free legal services currently funded by the City for small business owners.
We urged the Council to consider developing a more comprehensive and robust legal support program for veteran entrepreneurs, including access to free full representation legal services. Measures such as these will help to ensure veterans are able to start their businesses on a strong footing and have the proper legal supports if they face legal challenges as they build their businesses. Peter Kempner’s Testimony is below:
NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEES ON
VETERANS AND SMALL BUSINESS
SUBJECT: Supporting Veteran Entrepreneurship
Good afternoon. My name is Peter Kempner. I am the Legal Director at Volunteers of Legal Service (VOLS). VOLS was established in 1984 and our purpose is to leverage private attorneys to provide free legal services to low-income New Yorkers to help fill the justice gap.
For over 20 years the VOLS Microenterprise Project has helped existing and aspiring small business owners and microentrepreneurs access high-quality free legal services from our dedicated staff and our network of pro bono attorneys. For many New Yorkers, owning a small business is an effective path out of poverty and into financial stability and independence. VOLS provides assistance with drafting contracts, reviewing government documents, protecting intellectual property, and advising on commercial leases. We partner with community and economic development organizations to connect with clients who would benefit from our legal assistance, focusing on minority, women, immigrant, and veteran-owned businesses. Our Microenterprise Project works together with our Veterans Initiative to connect with veterans’ services organizations to help identify and serve veteran entrepreneurs and small business owners.
We then help them identify their legal needs and create an action plan to address them. By providing our clients access to high caliber pro bono attorneys at our partner law firms, we strive to level the playing field for veteran small business owners who are otherwise unable to pay the high cost of hiring a lawyer.
Unfortunately, free legal services for veteran owned small businesses and entrepreneurs are extremely scarce. Volunteer attorneys and small legal services programs like ours can only meet a small fraction of the community’s needs.
VOLS is one of the three non-profit legal services providers partnering with New York City Small Business Services (SBS) under the Commercial Lease Assistance (CLA) Program. The CLA program provides free non-litigation legal assistance and representation for commercial tenants facing lease related challenges. While this program has benefited thousands of lower-income small businesses since its creation in 2018, it is limited in its scope. CLA Program funding may not be used to address the legal needs of small businesses beyond commercial lease matters and cannot be used to represent small business owners who are the subject of an eviction proceeding.
While many small businesses have been protected from eviction by the various commercial eviction moratoriums over the course of the past year and a half, these protections are set to expire on January 15, 2022. We could witness a flood of small business evictions next year and these businesses will be left to fend for themselves in court without representation. As we have seen with the New York City funded Universal Access to Counsel program for residential tenants, providing a free attorney to those facing eviction levels the scales in Court. For commercial tenants the same would be true and could serve to preserve many small businesses.
SBS’s creation of the CLA program was groundbreaking and ahead of its time. Their recognition of the importance of legal counsel to business owners in the commercial lease area must be applauded and it puts our city’s business owners on more equal footing with their landlords when negotiating lease matters. But the fact that SBS funding for legal services to small businesses is limited to commercial lease assistance does not fully meet the community’s needs. Small businesses owners face a wide range of legal needs. Veteran entrepreneurs may need legal assistance with corporate entity selection, business formation, intellectual property protections, contract review, regulatory compliance, and employments matters just to name some of the most frequent legal needs with which we assist clients. Funding free legal services for veteran entrepreneurs beyond commercial lease assistance could make the difference for so many veterans whose businesses are in their infancy.
Building upon the work of the SBS run NYC Business Solution Centers which offer “legal advising” as part of the package of services offered to veteran entrepreneurs, the city should develop a more comprehensive and robust legal support program for veteran entrepreneurs. Including access to free full representation legal services can ensure veterans are able to start their businesses on a strong footing and have the proper support if they face legal challenges as they build their businesses.
New York State and New York City have a long history of creating programs and funding services for veteran entrepreneurs. This history dates back to at least the 1890s when New York State created preferential vending licenses for disabled veterans of the United States Civil War. These vending license preferences for disabled veterans have endured for over 125 years and continue to give economic opportunities to entrepreneurial veterans.
Our City’s veterans represent the best of what we have to offer, and we should continue to strive to provide them with all the supports they need upon their return home and as they build their economic futures. Thank you for allowing us to submit this testimony and for supporting the needs of New York City’s veteran entrepreneurs.
Peter A. Kempner, Esq.
Legal Director
To watch the video of the hearing and VOLS’ testimony, click here. Peter’s Testimony Begins at the 2:03:30 mark.