Small businesses today face a legal landscape that has been permanently altered by the effects of COVID, and they are in need of high-quality assistance more than ever before. Volunteers of Legal Service (VOLS), which has provided free legal advice and representation to low-income New Yorkers since 1984, has responded to this need through its Microenterprise Project. The Microenterprise Project, established in 1999, is an innovative provider of comprehensive transactional legal services to underrepresented small businesses and entrepreneurs in New York City. Through this Project, VOLS has helped hundreds of New Yorkers to find an effective path out of poverty and into a new life marked by financial stability and independence.
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How has the VOLS Microenterprise Project continued to help small business owners access high-quality legal services during this unprecedented time of need?
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Arthur Kats joined the VOLS Microenterprise Project in 2017 as a Senior Staff Attorney and was promoted to Project Director in 2020. Before joining VOLS, Arthur was an associate attorney at a boutique Brooklyn law firm specializing in commercial landlord-tenant litigation and leasing transactions. Throughout his career, he litigated extensively in the city, state, and federal courts in both commercial and residential contexts representing landlords and tenants.
Shortly after Arthur assumed the role of Project Director, COVID wreaked havoc on our city’s small businesses. Arthur acted swiftly and adeptly to ensure that the Microenterprise Project responded to this crisis through direct legal representation, pro bono engagement, community education, and public policy initiatives. Amid uncertainties, Arthur managed the efforts of a team of staff attorneys, Pro Bono Scholars, interns, Americorps VISTA fellows, and pro bono lawyers. As a result of his efforts, VOLS succeeded in supporting equitable economic development in New York City and ensured that our small businesses received high-caliber legal assistance during this unstable time in our history.
A cornerstone of Arthur’s work both before and during the pandemic has been representing commercial tenants through the New York City’ Commercial Lease Assistance Program. An expert in legal protections for small business owners and entrepreneurs, Arthur filed what was possibly the first successful affirmative commercial tenant harassment lawsuit in the city. On March 17th, 2021, Arthur Kats testified before the New York City Council Committee on Small Business’ Preliminary Budget Oversight Hearing in support of the Commercial Lease Assistance (CLA) Program and extension of personal liability protections for small business owners.
Arthur serves together with engaging hundreds of transactional pro bono lawyers, many for the first time, to get involved and give back through direct representation, creating critical legal guides in accessible language, and presenting substantive legal workshops reaching countless community members; banding VOLS resources together to develop and launch the Small Business Legal Relief Alliance (SBLRA), which has seamlessly connected hundreds of crisis-stricken business owners with free rapid-response legal expertise; and advocating for smart policies that remove systemic barriers to equitable economic opportunity among the marginalized communities we serve.
Arthur advises federal and state policymakers on the legal needs of marginalized communities. He has been a featured speaker for the New York City Bar Association. Despite the pandemic, VOLS developed and strengthened key community partnerships with law firms, government officials, and organizational leaders throughout the city to level the playing field for hundreds of small business owners who can otherwise not pay the high cost of hiring a high-quality attorney in New York City.
Thanks, Arthur, for your valuable service! We are proud of our accomplishments together and wish Arthur the best in his new journey. Please join us for a special VOLS Welcome to our new Microenterprise Project Director, Kristen Belolan, who currently serves as the Project’s Supervising Attorney. Kristen will lead the team into its next chapter as we continue helping New York City small businesses to receive high-caliber legal assistance during these difficult times.
Additional information:
- Arthur Kats advised on Commercial Lease in the Marketplace: https://www.marketplace.org/2020/04/01/i-cant-afford-rent-for-my-small-business-because-of-covid-19-what-can-i-do/
- VOLS helps launch the Commercial Lease Assistance Program: https://volsprobono.org-microenterprise-project-launches-commercial-lease-assistance-program/
- VOLS engages pro bono support for businesses in crisis: https://volsprobono.org/pro-bono-week-spotlight-protecting-our-small-businesses/
- VOLS enlist broad-based support during pandemic: https://volsprobono.org/2020-microenterprise-report/
- VOLS leads effort to protect small business protections as amicus in the courts: https://volsprobono.org/amicus-small-business-pandemic/; https://volsprobono.org-files-amicus-brief-in-circuit-court-seeking-to-uphold-small-business-protections/
- VOLS co-founded/launched the Small Business Legal Relief Alliance: https://www.sblra.org/