LV Chamber offers small biz legal help

By Brian Wargo (contact), In Business reporter

Fri, Nov 6, 2009 (3 a.m.)

Small businesses with little cash to seek out legal advice are taking advantage of a new program set up by the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce.

Since the program was launched in March, more than 30 chamber members have sought out free legal advice given by attorneys with Holland & Hart. The firm’s attorneys make themselves available two times a month.

It’s all part of a business survival series launched by the chamber for companies facing difficulties during the economic slowdown, said chamber spokeswoman Cara Roberts.

“We realized the recession has been very hard on our members and in particular small business owners,” Roberts said. “Many managers and owners have never been through this type of recession before, and we want to give them the tools they need to survive these tough times — adjust their business plan and shift their financial strategy. Free legal counseling is one of a number of things we are doing.”

The small business owner fills out a form stating the legal issues they are facing to ensure a Holland & Hart attorney practicing in that area is sent to the meeting. It may be contract law, personal injury, property damage or employment law.

Filling out the form in advance helps the firm check to see if they have a conflict of in interest in advising the company.

The firm approached the chamber a year ago about offering the service as part of its pro bono mission, said Bob Anderson, who heads the business transaction practice in Southern Nevada for Holland & Hart.

“Pro bono work is part of our culture,” Anderson said. “Every lawyer is required to do more than 100 hours a year.”

It’s not about adding clients because many of these mom and pop businesses can’t afford to hire large firms, and if they need further help they are referred to smaller practices in town, he said. The initial advice, however, makes a difference, he said.

“We have found that in almost all of the cases, we have been able to find a path to a solution within that 45 minutes we meet with them,” Anderson said. “We can’t fix anything in 45 minutes, but we can give them a path. It is nice to help out people and put a smile on their face when they walk out.”

Some of the businesses have inquired about how to deal with financial problems and, in some cases, have been urged to file for bankruptcy protection, Anderson said. In other cases, they may have a contract with someone who hasn’t paid. They are encouraged to go to small claims court in those cases, Anderson said.

“I think businesses are under financial stress and there are a lot of questions about how to collect money, filing for bankruptcy or someone pursuing them and what can they do,” Anderson said.

In one case, a business owner described how she bought a home and leased it for three years to a developer to use as a model. When the three years expired, the developer wanted to keep using the home as a model and decided to stay and keep paying the rent on it, Anderson said.

Lawyers told the business owner that since the lease expired, she had the option of keeping the developer as a tenant or kicking them out, Anderson said.

“She knew what the answer was but wanted to be sure and have the muscle behind what she was saying,” Anderson said.

The chamber program is likely to evolve to allow other firms to participate, Anderson said. There is interest from other chamber-member firms, and it’s a good way for young lawyers to gain additional experience, he said.

The program is popular among business owners who said it helps them get the advice they need without having the money to hire an attorney up front.

Tricia-Ann McFarlane, the owner of OnPointe Creations, a start-up event-planning and wedding consultant, said she sought the advice of attorneys for creating a legal agreement she could use between her business and brides and another for vendors she works with.

The agreement with brides provides protection on payment schedules and deals with any changes or cancellations, she said. The agreement with vendors is needed to prevent them from sharing information with competitors, she said.

McFarlane drafted an agreement and took it into the meeting with the attorney who talked about the pros and cons of such forms and what to include in them, she said.

“I thought what I had was great until he told me some of the pros and cons about agreements and of not being liable for acts of God. I didn’t have the legal background,” McFarlane said.

The advice was valuable, and McFarlane said she used it when she hired an attorney to use her draft form. The program helped tremendously because she has limited resources as a new business and getting the advice saved on the legal fees, McFarlane said.

“It saved me time and money because if I had hired an attorney with nothing, it would have cost me more,” she said.

Another beneficiary of the program was Dillon LaBonte, one of the owners of Bandvino, a company that holds community wine tasting events and sells wine glass holders.

The company had donated wine holders to a non-profit outfit in California which in return requested Bandvino sign a contract that would place them in the non-profit’s magazine.

LaBonte said he was hesitant to do so and with limited funds to pay for an outside firm, he set up an appointment with a Holland & Hart attorney to get some advice. He learned that by signing the contract, his company would have given up trademarks and control over the business because the California non-profit could have dictated prices for the wine holders and made Bandvino liable for printing t-shirts, LaBonte said.

“I told them I would not be signing it, and I have not heard back from them,” LaBonte said.