Small Business Legal Services Program
Enrollment is Ongoing
Helping connect our members with free business-related legal assistance
Black Connect operates the largest national pro bono legal services program for the Black business community
SBLS furthers Black Connect’s mission by providing essential supportive legal services to underserved and at-risk businesses
Many of the legal issues that business owners find themselves faced with can be avoided or minimized with proper legal guidance from inception. Business owners and entrepreneurs recognize the importance of attorney representation. However, too often they lack the funding to obtain the legal representation they need.
This lack of funding can be attributed to the fact only approximately 10% of businesses in the United States are Black-owned and the owners lack access to capital and funding needed to sustain or grow their businesses. SBLS furthers Black Connect’s mission by providing essential supportive legal services to underserved and at-risk businesses.
SBLS plays an important role in educating business owners and entrepreneurs about legal and business issues that affect business ventures and teaching business owners how to protect and enforce their legal rights. SBLS provides industry specific classes and workshops based on the needs of our members as well as general legal education on topics such as contracts, intellectual property, consumer rights and business formation.
SBLS plays an important role in educating business owners, professionals, and the general public about legal and business issues that affect business development and business relationships through:
Direct legal services
Legal Clinics
Panel Discussions
Webinars - View past legal trainings in the Digital Learning Center on Blackconnect.com.
“If law is the cornerstone of democracy, then for as long as access to legal representation has a high price tag attached to it, economic inequality will remain the biggest threat to democracy and there is no justice for all.”
“A lawyer is either a social engineer or a parasite on society”
- Charles Hamilton Houston, Esq.
As a scholar, educator, and lawyer, Charles Hamilton Houston dedicated his life to fighting racism with the rule of law as an instrument for justice and social change.
“The Negro lawyer must be trained as a social engineer and group interpreter. Due to the Negro’s social and political condition . . . the Negro lawyer must be prepared to anticipate, guide and interpret his group advancement. . . . [Moreover, he must act as] business advisor . . . for the protection of the scattered resources possessed or controlled by the group. . . . He must provide more ways and means for holding within the group the income now flowing through it.”
Thank you to our partnering law firms!
We work with law firms that have a proven track record of skilled resolution to legal issues, a compassion for the needs of others, and dedication to improving the communities in which we live and work.
More Ways to Get Involved!
Donate to SBLS, become a sponsor, or become a member of Black Connect to help us expand our legal support to small businesses and entrepreneurs. Several sponsorship opportunities are available, including naming rights. Email to inquire.