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Legal Request Inquiry Form

Small Businesses Program Change: We can only consider inquiries from small business owners that are referred to us by partner organizations that provide business support and coaching. Entrepreneurs can find legal information, publications, and webinars on our Legal Assistance for Nonprofits and Small Businesses page. Nonprofits, small businesses, and social enterprises can complete the form below to request non-litigation pro bono legal services. The information you submit will help us determine (eligibility)]https://www.clccrul.org/nonprofits-small-businesses) and learn more about your business, activities, and legal needs. This inquiry form is not an application for legal services. FOR PRO BONO PLACEMENT THE FOLLOWING DOCUMENTS ARE *REQUIRED (UPON REQUEST): TAX EXEMPT (501(C)(3) Orgs: 1. Current Board List* 2. Most recently filed 990* 3. Current financials: balance sheet&operating budget* 4. Articles of Incorporation* 5. IRS Tax Exempt Letter* 6. Bylaws* 7. FEIN #* NONPROFIT STARTUPS - (seeking tax exemption) (REQUIRED FOR LEGAL ASSISTANCE): 1. Board List* - (w/resumes, incl. titles and contact info) 2. Business Plan* - (incl. activities, programs and goals) 3. Projected budget* - preferably in spreadsheet form After reviewing your inquiry, we will confirm preliminary eligibility for services within 3 business days. We will reply with the most efficient legal resource, which may include written publications covering your legal issue, a legal clinic or consultation appointment, or if your legal need would be best served by our network of pro bono attorneys, we will send an application for pro bono legal services requesting additional information, including documents needed for the legal work to be performed representation. Depending on the expertise needed, the volunteer recruitment process is routinely 2 to 4 weeks, though some legal needs may take longer. Please email Angela Dear (mailto:adear@clccrul.org) with any questions about the inquiry form.

Is this a home or work address?
Link to organization website, if applicable.
Please provide the geographic area(s) of business/organization.
Check all that apply.
  • Chicago
  • Suburban Cook County
  • Other Illinois
Chicago suburban locations
  • North Suburbs
  • West Suburbs
  • South Suburbs
Type of organization
Select all that apply.
  • Small business
  • Nonprofit
  • Social enterprise
Stage
Please indicate number of (full-time) "paid" staff. Do not include volunteers or unpaid workers.


Please indicate number of (part-time) "paid" staff. Do not include volunteers or unpaid workers.


What is your relationship to the organization/business?
Please indicate whether you are a nonprofit officer or director, the owner of the small business, or an employee. If you are an employee, please provide your title.


On behalf of the organization/business I am requesting pro bono:
Note: We do not recruit pro bono general counsel or board members for clients. At this time, we can only provide consultations for employment law questions for (established organizations).
Please choose the legal issues that you want help addressing
  • Contract
  • Corporate, General
  • Entity Formation
  • Employment
  • Employment - Employer Hotline Consultation
  • Financial Distress/Dissolution/Bankruptcy
  • Financing
  • Insurance
  • Merger, Acquisition, Program Transfer
  • Privacy & IT, Licenses
  • Real Estate-Commercial Lease
  • Real Estate-Purchase/Sale
  • Real Estate-Zoning
  • Tax-Federal Tax, Tax Exemption
  • Tax-State & Local Tax, Sales/Property Tax
  • Trademarks, Copyrights, Patents
  • Other
Please describe the legal issue, question, or request for representation, and include timing considerations. For more efficient processing of your request, please include relevant background information.*
Note: Chicago Lawyers’ Committee does not provide nonprofits or small businesses assistance with disputes, litigation, or other adversarial proceedings.


Does your legal question involve another person or company?
IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ TERMS BELOW CAREFULLY & CHECK BOX
We will review your inquiry and aim to contact you within three business days after submission of the form. We cannot guarantee that we will be able to fulfill your request for legal services. These terms represent the entirety of the understanding between Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Inc. (CLC), the volunteer attorneys, and you. It contains the terms under which limited legal information and assistance will be provided for a small business you own, or a nonprofit for which you are authorized to request legal services. CLC recruits and coordinates Chicago-area volunteer attorneys to assist eligible small businesses and nonprofits with their transactional legal needs. If a nonprofit or business seeks pro bono representation and CLC staff determines it is eligible for that representation, CLC staff will request additional information and documentation through a separate application for legal services. As an extension of this service, volunteer attorneys conduct limited, pro bono (no fee charged) legal consultations of approximately 30 minutes with eligible small businesses and nonprofits (Brief Advice Consultation). Brief Advice Consultations are conducted remotely via phone or video call, and at short-term legal clinics coordinated with neighborhood organizations. Volunteer attorneys provide information and advice based solely on the information that you are able to provide during the limited Brief Advice Consultation. The volunteer attorneys will assist in transactional matters only and will not provide assistance in court, in disputes, or in situations likely to lead to disputes. No attorney-client relationship or any ongoing relationship will be formed between you and the volunteer attorneys or CLC. CLC staff and volunteer attorneys will not represent a business, nonprofit, or you, in any matter after the conclusion of the Brief Advice Consultation, unless and until both attorney and client enter into a separate, written representation agreement. After the Brief Advice Consultation, CLC and volunteer attorneys assume no responsibility for you, the nonprofit, or business. If the business or nonprofit desires pro bono representation after the Brief Advice Consultation, you may submit this request through the Inquiry Form, or seek representation with other legal counsel. Volunteer attorneys are employed by law firms with many clients and want to make sure that they can continue to represent those other clients even if the work they are doing for those clients has some relation to you and your legal issues. By agreeing to the terms of this agreement, you understand and agree to waive any conflicts with the volunteer attorneys' firms present or future clients. If volunteer attorneys learn during a consultation that a legal issue is actually in conflict with a client of the firm where they work, they will end the conversation and refer you back to CLC to recruit a different volunteer attorney to help you. You understand that CLC must collect and track basic information about you, the nonprofit, or business, to comply with grants that fund CLC, and you consent to the use by CLC of such information on an anonymous basis.

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