[GLLUG] MSU law clinic to expand services to underserved clientele

[Ex Fed]

This is a message to those nice members of the club who wanted to get the 
organization non profit status.  Did that ever happen, maybe these guys can 
help...


Lee

News Release  Monday, April 17, 2006
MSU law clinic to expand services to underserved clientele

Contact: Russ White, University Relations: (517) 432-0923, whiterus at msu.edu

4/12/2006

EAST LANSING, Mich. – The Small Business & Nonprofit Clinic, one of four 
public-interest clinics operated by the Michigan State University College of 
Law, will be able to expand its services to small businesses and nonprofit 
organizations thanks to a $49,000 grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.


The MSU law clinic provides counseling and legal advice to start-up and 
existing small businesses and nonprofits in the greater Lansing area – 
Ingham, Eaton and Clinton counties – as well as throughout Michigan. 
Currently, the clinic is serving a growing number of clients whose needs for 
legal counsel vary.


“Our goal as a clinic is to offer an exceptional legal education to MSU law 
students while providing proficient legal counsel to the rising, yet 
underserved, small businesses and nonprofit organizations in Michigan,” said 
Nicole Dandridge, an MSU clinical professor and attorney.


The clinic is staffed by Dandridge, who supervises second- and third-year 
law students. Under Michigan Court Rule 8.120, these students are eligible 
to practice law under the supervision of Dandridge, who is a member of the 
State Bar of Michigan.


The small-business sector is a significant and growing part of the U.S. 
economy and a source of more new jobs than the large corporate sector. Yet, 
small businesses traditionally have been underserved by the legal community, 
in part because the small-business owner is often unable to afford effective 
legal counsel, according to Dandridge. This lack of counsel can be one 
critical reason for the failure of the business. The clinic charges a 
nominal fee for its services.


The nonprofit sector also is under-represented by legal counsel, for much 
the same reason as small businesses. Nonetheless, the government is looking 
to nonprofits to assume a greater responsibility for education, social, 
cultural, religious and health services in the community, especially for 
those in need, Dandridge said. The clinic applies the same fee structure to 
nonprofits as it does to small businesses.


The Small Business & Nonprofit Clinic may be contacted at (517) 337-4518. 
The clinic is located at 541 E. Grand River Ave., East Lansing. Information 
about each of the MSU law clinics – Rental Housing Clinic, Tax Clinic, 
Chance at Childhood Law & Social Work Clinic and Small Business & Nonprofit 
Clinic – may be found online at http://www.msulawclinics.org.


###


The W.K. Kellogg Foundation was established in 1930 and targets its grants 
toward specific areas: health; food systems and rural development; youth and 
education; and philanthropy and volunteerism. Grants are concentrated in the 
United States, Latin America, the Caribbean and southern African countries.

MSU College of Law was founded as the Detroit College of Law in 1891. The 
college affiliated with Michigan State University in 1995 and moved to MSU’s 
East Lansing campus in 1997. Today, the college is one of only two private 
law schools to be affiliated with a research university and one of the 
oldest continuously operating independent law colleges in the nation.