Touro Law Launches A Small Business Legal Assistance Clinic

Touro Law Center has established a Small Business Legal Assistance Clinic, designed to bring direct legal services to small businesses on Long Island, providing much-needed legal services and educational resources to those who need them the most. The Clinic will give preference to minority and women-owned businesses with 10 or fewer employees located in either Nassau or Suffolk County on Long Island.

The Small Business Legal Assistance Clinic, funded through a grant from the U.S. Small Business Administration, advises clients at no cost on legal issues such as incorporation, negotiation and lease drafting for commercial space, by-laws, employee and personnel practices, and other basic legal issues. It also partners with local organizations to provide regular networking and educational programming for small businesses. The Clinic will also develop partnerships with local small business organizations to provide resources and educational programs to their members.

Dean Elena Langan stated, “Legal matters can be intimidating for entrepreneurs and pose real stumbling blocks for small businesses. This Clinic will provide much needed help to start-ups while providing valuable hands-on experiences for our students.”

The Clinic is being directed by Assistant Clinical Professor of Law Denise Marzano-Doty. She is a 1994 graduate of Touro Law Center, where she served as a Research Editor on the Touro Law Review. Ms. Marzano-Doty was previously the Senior Staff Attorney for the Senior Citizens Law Program Clinic.

Clinics are an integral part of the educational process at Touro Law, providing students with an opportunity to represent actual clients with real legal problems and to work with experienced attorney-professors. Under the close supervision of faculty, clinic students advise clients and appear on their behalf in court or at administrative hearings.

In addition to providing valuable first-hand experience, clinics help students hone essential professional skills such as interviewing, drafting legal documents, and investigating and developing evidence.

XXX

 

Touro University Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center is located adjacent to both a state and a federal courthouse in Central Islip, New York and has a branch campus in Manhattan. Touro Law’s proximity to the courthouses, coupled with programming developed to integrate the courtroom into the classroom, provide a one-of-a kind learning experience for law students, combining a rigorous curriculum taught by expert faculty with a practical courtroom experience. Touro Law is dedicated to providing hands-on learning that enables students to gain experience while offering much-needed legal services in the community.

Touro Law, which has an alumni base of more than 7,000, offers full- and part-time JD programs where students can earn a degree in 3 or 4 years. Additionally, Touro offers a hybrid, four-year FlexTime JD Program at both Long Island and Manhattan campuses, combining online and in-person learning. Touro Law offers several dual degree programs and graduate law programs for US and foreign law graduates. Touro Law Center is part of Touro University.

 

Touro University is a system of non-profit institutions of higher and professional education chartered in 1970. Touro was founded primarily to enrich the Jewish heritage and to serve the larger American and global community. Approximately 19,000 students are currently enrolled at Touro University’s various schools and divisions, which encompass 35 campuses and locations in New York, California, Nevada, Illinois, Berlin, Jerusalem and Moscow. New York Medical College; Touro University California and Touro University Nevada; Touro University Worldwide and its Touro College Los Angeles division; as well as Hebrew Theological College in Skokie, Illinois are separately accredited institutions within the Touro University system. For more information, visit www.touro.edu.

Patti Desrochers

Director of Communications

pattid@tourolaw.edu

(631) 761-7062