Partners & Programs

Vermont Law and Graduate School, a private, independent institution, is home to the nation’s premier environmental law program. The school features innovative experiential programs and is home to the Center for Justice Reform, Energy Clinic, Environmental Advocacy Clinic, Environmental Justice Clinic, Farmed Animal Advocacy Clinic, Food and Agriculture Clinic, South Royalton Legal Clinic, Transnational Environmental Law Clinic, and ourselves: the Small Business Law Clinic. The Vermont Law and Graduate School is the Vermont Small Business Law Center’s fiscal sponsor.

The Vermont Small Business Law Center’s educational work would not be possible without the hard work of the student clinicians of the Small Business Law Clinic. Students who enroll in this experiential course contribute to the educational work of the Clinic, and have opportunity to apprentice part-time with an attorney in the community serving small businesses directly. They will research and explain to business owners the legal concepts and options they need to understand to move forward with well-informed business decisions. They gain deeper knowledge of bar-tested topics as they navigate common and uncommon legal questions. And, they can work to serve those businesses directly under supervision of an attorney. Our students leave the Clinic with a greater understanding of how to explain the law to non-lawyers, how to navigate the ethical boundaries between information and advice, and how to use legal education as a tool to empower disadvantaged communities.

From start-up to transition, the Vermont Small Business Development Center offers knowledge, experience, and resources to help start, grow, sustain, or exit small businesses in Vermont. Certified professional business advisors share their expertise to the small business owner through one-on-one advising, training, and guidance. VtSBDC assists Vermonters start businesses, create jobs, secure capital, build enterprise value, and grow the local economy.

Our center is thrilled to work with the VtSBDC to help educate their clients on legal topics through events and our one-on-one educational consults. When the VtSBDC was chosen as a recipient of the federal grant for the Small Business Administration’s two-year Community Navigator Pilot Program, our program, the Entrepreneurial Legal Lab, joined as a spoke in the hub of community organizations and small business support providers. We continue to collaborate with the VtSBDC today on educational events and consults, new programs, and new opportunities to support Vermont’s small businesses.

The Vermont Bar Association is Vermont’s attorney advocacy and support organization for our small community of lawyers. The Bar Association “promotes the highest standards of skill, ethics and professionalism within an inclusive legal profession; fosters understanding and respect for the rule of law; supports equal access to a fair and effective system of justice; and provides valuable resources to its members.” One of the services offered through the Vermont Bar Association is assistance matching individuals and businesses in need of some services, with attorneys ready to serve them, through various grant-funded legal services programs.

Since 2021, the Vermont Bar Association has been our steadfast partner in placing over 125 small businesses with an attorney for up to 10 hours of free legal services. The panel of “low bono” (reduced rate) attorneys that the Bar Association has recruited for this program is full of solo practitioners and small- to medium-sized firms who are themselves small businesses. Many of our low bono attorneys also host our students in part-time field placements, allowing our clinicians to educate a small business owner in the Small Business Law Clinic, and move into direct services and advice under their supervising attorney’s oversight.

SBA LogoThe Vermont Small Business Law Center is presently funded in part through a grant with the U.S. Small Business Administration. Thanks to the support of Senator Bernie Sanders and his staff, in 2023 we were awarded a congressional grant to establish a center for small business and community legal education. The Vermont Small Business Law Center launched in 2024, and is pleased to be able to continue providing Vermont with the same access to legal services established during the Community Navigator Pilot Program.

The vision of the M&T Charitable Foundation is to partner with communities to impact equitable change. The M&T Charitable Foundation underwrites the Center's walk-in legal clinics, which have supported flood survivors across Vermont for two years, and builds climate resilience planning into the Center's slate of services so that small businesses can protect themselves from future disasters. The Center's educational materials, student clinician development, outreach, and legal updates help reinforce these efforts.

M&T Charitable Foundation Logo

 

We regularly partner with a variety of business support providers, advocacy organizations, and incubator and accelerator programs in New England, including:

The State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) offers funding to states (as well as the District of Columbia, Tribal governments, and territories) “to promote American entrepreneurship, support small business ownership, and democratize access to capital across the country.” Like Community Navigator, SSBCI is focused on supporting very small businesses (under 10 employees), and aims to help the country transition after the pandemic.

Once again partnering with the VtSBDC, the Vermont Small Business Law Center will be able to provide additional legal education and services for Vermont’s small businesses, including for those businesses seeking capital through SSBCI’s loan and venture capital recipients.

“Partnering with the Vermont Small Business Law Center has been invaluable for Cultivator and our local entrepreneurs. Their workshops and free services provide essential legal insights in a supportive, approachable setting, empowering business owners to navigate complex legal needs confidently. We highly recommend their resources to all small business owners.” –Abbey Salomon, The Cultivator