WMass small biz conference puts fledgling entrepreneurs in touch with lawyers
SPRINGFIELD — Amarilis Martinez wandered around the BizGrow Conference at Springfield City Library on Thursday, looking for free legal advice about starting a business.
"I want to build an online art community where people can come in, chat and generate images based on their own cultural background from the Caribbean," she told The Republican.
The 66-year-old retired mental health care coordinator was among scores of would-be business owners who signed up for pro bono sessions with attorneys from Lawyers for Civil Rights in Boston.
The organization offers free legal services to businesses that are owned by minorities, women or immigrants.
"My business would connect people with Caribbean and Latin art that can be created and sold by me or others," she said.
The retiree needed to know who would own the art. She learned all about intellectual property rights during her afternoon session.
"It's great that it's free, because I'm living on a fixed income," she said.
The lawyers and library hosted the first-ever conference for Pioneer Valley entrepreneurs last year. Organizers say the event was such a success, they decided to expand and hold it again this year.
"(Last year), we had so many people looking for appointments, they had to connect with lawyers after the event. We didn't have enough slots to accommodate everyone. This year, we have longer hours and more lawyers," said Elizabeth McKinstry, training and programming librarian.
Lawyers for Civil Rights had been running the event in Boston for nearly a decade before reaching out to Springfield. The organization mobilizes law firms from across the commonwealth to help hundreds of upstart businesses every year.
"A lot of small businesses will pay too much for legal support. They're spending the little funding they have on legal services, or they could get into a bad situation without proper legal support to help guide them," said Roz Freeman, the agency's senior entrepreneurship manager.
During the conference, the library also staged a Small Business Expo in its rotunda, where a dozen organizations also pedaled gratis counsel, advising in a range of areas that included writing business plans, marketing, sales and funding.
Roberto Nieves was on hand representing Common Capital, a Springfield agency that works with the U.S. Small Business Administration to help entrepreneurs across Western Massachusetts fund their operations.
Clients are usually businesses that have bombed out with banks because of bad credit ratings.
"Banks have stringent credit score requirements. We don't use credit scores. We use credit behavior. We work with entrepreneurs to clean up their credit problems. Those matters won't prevent them from borrowing from us, but they must address those issues," said Nieves.
According to Tax Guard, the SBA default rate hit 3.7% in 2024, the worst it's been since 2012. Common Capital is trying to help drive that rate down by educating its clients. Nieves also tells entrepreneurs how to avoid predatory lenders.
"There's not a lot of options out there, other than quick money lenders. They'll get you the money in 24 hours, but their interest rates could be between 36 to 63 percent. That gets people into debt they can't get out of. We are a very patient lender," continued Nieves.
According to the SBA, there were nearly 723,000 small businesses in Massachusetts last year, up from around 697,000 in 2023.
But while the number of businesses rose, the number of people they employ dropped from 1.5 to 1.4 million, according to the SBA.
McKinstry hopes the business expo helps new and existing business owners manage that volatility.
"Everyone is aware the economic climate feels unpredictable and uncertain, and having resources that you can tap into to help navigate this is incredibly valuable," she said.
The relationships that small businesses strike with lawyers might last the life of the business, and the work remains pro bono.
"I love working with these businesses, because their passion for what they do is so strong," said Freeman. "Being able to provide them with such a crucial resource, while they're on this hard journey of being an entrepreneur, is incredibly gratifying."
For more information about Lawyers for Civil Rights, email the group at bizgrow@lawyersforcivilrights.com or visit lawyersforcivilrights.org/bizgrow.
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