2018 AWARD CATEGORY SMALL BUSINESS LEGAL ASSISTANCE
LARRY Glusman Attorney, Shareholder, Treasurer Friebert, Finerty & St. John, S.C. 330 E. Kilbourn, Suite 1250 Milwaukee, WI 53202 (414) 271-0130 (Office) (414) 303-5853 (Cell) ljg@ffsj.com
NOMINATED BY
David E. Latona
President | MEDC 757 N Broadway #600 | Milwaukee, WI 53202 (414) 269-1445 | David.Latona@MEDConline.com
Memorial for Errol Glusman
ou r n a l, au k e e J w il 8 M The ber 197 S e pte m
Jac k Glus ma n sta nd ing in front of Glus ma n Sa nit ary Me at Sh erm an Pa rk Ne igh Mark et, borh oo d 19 76
Hack’s Furniture, owned by Larry Glusman’s family 1935 - 1984
A FAMILY Legacy of Public Service It started with a family of small business owners. Larry Glusman has a dedication, passion, and commitment to Milwaukee that extends beyond legal services.
Larry Glusman with Les Paul - inventor of the electric guitar. Larry was instrumental in bringing the Les Paul Exhibit to Discovery World in 2008.
LARRY GLUSMAN BIOGRAPHY As a lawyer with Friebert, Finerty and St. John, S.C., in Milwaukee, Larry’s practice focuses on commercial lending, real estate and business transactions. It also includes creditors rights in litigation, foreclosure and various insolvency proceedings. For more than 20 years, Larry has represented the Milwaukee Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), a trailblazing non-profit lender which invests in the Milwaukee business community. Larry has documented and closed hundreds of MEDC loan transactions over the years to a wide array of local businesses, helping them achieve their businesses goals. He also represents established and start-up businesses with real estate and asset purchase transactions and other financing, leasing, development and corporate matters. Larry Glusman
Attorney, Shareholder, Treasurer Friebert, Finerty & St. John, S.C.
Larry’s commitment to helping small businesses thrive comes from his own family’s legacy of owning and operating small businesses. “I grew up around entrepreneurs, and I saw how hard they worked and the pride they took in serving their customers. Working for a family retail business as a young college graduate, I experienced the problems and day to day concerns of business owners from the inside. Then as a lawyer, looking from the outside, I knew these businesses wanted responsiveness and practical advice,” Larry says. “And sometimes, a little humor to take the edge off !” Larry’s fraternal grandparents, Jack and Esther
Glusman, owned Glusman’s Sanitary Kosher Meat Market at 49th and Center Streets, which was one of only a handful of meat markets in the Milwaukee area with rabbinical supervision that served the Milwaukee Jewish community for more than 35 years. “Grandpa Jack, a Ukranian immigrant with a heavy accent, disarmed his customers with his smile and always put a little something extra in their meat deliveries,” says Larry. Larry’s maternal grandmother, Florence Hack Bernstein, was a true pioneer in the male-dominated furniture business. She and her two brothers operated Hack’s Furniture for 47 years, with multiple Milwaukee area locations. “Grandma Florence was tough as nails and she bought all of their wholesale merchandise, driving hard bargains, all to the benefit of her workingclass customers,” Larry says.
Larry is active in the Milwaukee music community singing and drumming with his band The Riverwest Aces. “Whether you’re eight or eighty, you’ll find yourself tapping your foot to our brand of Americana and Roots music,” says Larry. “A great song is better than a great legal argument, but neither one ever gets old.”
“Today, I enjoy spending so much time working with MEDC because transactions are tangible to the local community. Living and working in Milwaukee, I can drive down just about any street and see a manufacturer, a retailer, a restaurant or a service provider which MEDC has supported over the years to help them attain success. That is a very satisfying feeling,” says Larry.
Larry met his wife Caroline, a labor and employment lawyer at Foley & Lardner, during law school in Madison, and they have two high schoolers, Jack (17) and Lauren (15).
In addition to MEDC, Larry represents many other lenders in loan documentation, closing and portfolio servicing. “At Duke, I was a public policy studies major and was never quite sure how I would end up using my degree. Then one day I realized that just about everything I am involved with professionally, and on a volunteer basis, promotes small businesses and the public welfare in some meaningful and tangible way,” says Larry.
Larry has a B.A. in Public Policy Studies from Duke University and graduated cum laude from the University of Wisconsin Law School. Larry clerked for The Honorable Stephen A. Felsenthal, United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Northern District of Texas. He is also the author of a University of Wisconsin Law Review Comment entitled, “It’s My Copy, Right? Music Industry Power to Control Growing Resale Markets in Used Audio Recordings.”
specific examples on why you are nominating this person for the Small Business Legal Assistance Award Larry works behind the scenes for MEDC facilitating and reviewing real estate and small business loans from a legal perspective and making sure they succeed. On average, he helps MEDC complete over 25 small business loans per year for local, small to mid-sized companies. He also represents small businesses themselves and other small non-profit lenders. Specific examples of the small businesses and groups he has helped in the recent past include:
• Greater Milwaukee Foundation: Provided program-related investment loan transaction review and documentation • Northwest Side Community Development Corporation: Assisted with revolving loan fund (“RLF”) loan transaction review and documentation • Wisconsin Preservation Fund – Managed RLF loan transaction review and documentation • Legacy Redevelopment Corporation: Provided SBA 7(a) loan transaction review and documentation • Waukesha County RLF: Helped with RLF loan transaction review and documentation • Village of Mukwonago RLF: Managed RLF loan transaction review and documentation • M7 Venture Debt Fund – Reviewed RLF loan transactions and documentation • African American Chamber of Commerce: Consulted on creditors rights issues • BelAir Cantina: Negotiated the purchase of real estate for a pilot location on Water Street and a second location in Wauwatosa. Negotiated asset purchase and lease amendment for East Side and Madison locations as well as commercial leases for Oak Creek and Brookfield Corners locations. • Fuel Café: Negotiated lease for Walker’s Point location and a real estate purchase for corporate headquarters on Center Street.
• Dakonte Products Group, Inc.: Negotiated asset purchase agreement and lease assignment for small, woman-owned manufacturer moving 11 Hmong sewing jobs from Sussex to Milwaukee. • MEDC (representative cross-section of 2017 loan transactions): o Old Town Serbian Gourmet Restaurant o Plum Media o Tree of Life Assisted Living
BelAir Cantina
o Orchard Street Press o Diamond Discs International o Gravity Marketing o Standard Electric Supply o Sid Grinker Restoration o Screaming Tuna Restaurant o Elle Studio & Wellness o Valentine Café
Fuel Café
o Foundation of Learning Child Care o Oklahoma Oil Mart
Screaming Tuna
volunteer efforts beyond regular job duties to advance legal assistance to small businesses Larry believes that every lawyer should adopt a non-profit or two and lend their expertise, legal or otherwise. “Lawyers make great board members, but their ranks could be larger in the non-profit world. We are problem-solvers by nature, trained to get to the heart of a business or a personal matter and offer constructive criticism or commentary. That adds real value,” says Larry. Larry’s philanthropic roots also came from his parents and grandparents. “Someone in my family was always serving on the medical staff board or the board of the synagogue or working on a Jewish Federation Campaign,” Larry recalls. “It just seemed natural to step up when your time came.” For the last six years, Larry has served on the board of Congregation Sinai in Fox Point. For the last four years, he’s served as a vice president and a member of the executive committee. He recently chaired the cantor search committee for two years, which resulted in the hiring of a world-class cantor, Richard Newman, originally from Birmingham England. Larry’s board work began almost 12 years ago, when he was recruited by Charles Vang, to revive the dormant Hmong Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce. MEDC had made a couple loans to some Hmong businesses, and Larry met Charles and others in the closing process. They needed a lawyer for the board, and Larry accepted. Within a few years
they were approached by the State of Wisconsin to start a revolving loan fund ($25,000 loan max) to support new and expanding minority-owned small businesses. They gladly accepted the first $100,000 grant and quickly raised another $200,000 in loans from other investors - MEDC and Tri City National Bank. “But be careful what you wish for, because we had no budget, capacity or experience in underwriting, documenting, accounting or for auditing a loan fund,” Larry recounts. Yet their funders naturally required that they conform to documentation and reporting norms. Larry served on the loan committee and personally documented every loan pro bono for several years to ensure that they met the standards of a commercial loan transaction. The RLF’s resources and experience grew, and they were eventually able to take over the loan documentation process themselves. Today, the Hmong Chamber’s RLF stands as a market leader and an ongoing success story. Larry completed his 10-year term with the Hmong Chamber in May 2016. In December 2017 he completed a 4-year term on the board of the Southeast Asian Educational Development of Wisconsin, Inc., a 501(c)(3) spin-off of the Hmong Chamber, focusing on health screenings and wellness for refugee communities. At the behest of Seyoum Mengesha, WEDC’s Minority Business Development Director, three
years ago Larry began working pro bono for the African American Chamber of Commerce, helping them get their State of Wisconsin supported RLF off the ground. He reviews and documents all their loans and provides general counsel on creditor’s rights issues. “History repeats itself,” Larry notes, “and someone has to fill the void in legal services required to do this right and make it self-sustaining.” Larry has some interesting volunteer connections to the Milwaukee music community as well. His Uncle Errol was an original and longstanding member of the Summerfest volunteer driving corps that shuttled hundreds of artists to and from the airport, hotel and festival grounds. Their work was (and is) crucial to Summerfest’s success. In 1991, Errol passed away at the age of 47, and Bo Black (then head of Summerfest) planted a tree with a plaque in his honor outside the amphitheater. In fall 2007, Larry was approached by a musician friend to help create a new non-profit, Partnership for the Arts and Creative Excellence (PACE) to take possession of some Les Paul artifacts then held by the Waukesha County Historical Society, to find then a permanent home for display. He created PACE, but asked if he could stay involved in the grass roots effort. PACE acted as a match maker between Les and the relatively new Discovery World. After a couple trips to Les Paul’s home studio in New Jersey, Larry helped negotiate a deal, and Discovery Word was challenged to create an exhibit from scratch in three months without any funding in place. Normally exhibits are fully-funded in advance and take 12-18 months to create.
“Les was not getting any younger, and it was important to collaborate with him and get this done so he could see it and be assured that it would play a pivotal role in preserving his legacy,” Larry notes. Les Paul’s House of Sound exhibit opened in early summer 2008, and still exists today as one of the most popular exhibits. When Les came to town for the opening, he celebrated his 93rd birthday throwing out the first pitch at Miller Park and schmoozing on the air with Bob Uecker, then lighting the Summerfest guitar display at the old M&I Building, and playing a sold-out concert at The Pabst Theater, which lives on in a Milwaukee PBS concert special. Paul was the ultimate entrepreneur and small businessman. He invented the electric guitar and his inventions and ideas revolutionized the way we think of and hear music today in any number of ways -- from developing the solid body electric guitar that bears his name to portable sound recording gear to sound-on-sound multi track technology. Les died at the age of 94 and is buried next to his mother in his native Waukesha.
advocacy efforts led or participated in to change or advance the legal services industry Revolving loan funds are a big market trend in the legal services industry that help small businesses grow. However, many smaller companies and / or smaller non-profits don’t have the expertise, knowledge or capacity to get one of these funds up and running. Larry has led advocacy efforts in this area of the legal industry because he helps small businesses take advantage of these financial opportunities. Knowing the legal parameters of what it takes to get these funds going - and then sustaining them - Larry is paving the way in expanding revolving loan fund access to the small business and non-profit sectors.
Beyond this, Larry is continually guiding small businesses through often challenging issues that are stressful and costly. He is a true legal advocate for his clients. He provides counsel on not only the law governing certain contracts and agreements, but provides assistance in seeking out additional financing, as well as offering emotional support. He continually guides and teaches clients about all manners concerning small business growth, as well as keeping them upto-date on the industry laws surrounding buy/sell agreements, operating agreements, offers to purchase, employment questions, growth and investment strategy, estate planning, employment stock options, loan closings, title insurance and dozens of other services. If Larry is not an expert for a given topic, he steers clients quickly and efficiently to the best advisor, and continues to stay in the loop as an advocate.
efforts taken to provide legislative or regulatory action to help small business As noted above, the State of Wisconsin, through the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) and its Minority Business Development (MBD) Program, supports new and expanding minority-owned businesses. This is accomplished through direct grant assistance to qualifying minority business associations in Wisconsin. In turn, these investments are intended to promote job creation and retention. The MBD Program is devised to have a catalytic effect to grow the business climate and health of minority and underserved communities. Eligible grant applicants are non-profit, minority business associations that provide business training and technical assistance and/or serve the minority and underserved business community.
or audit the loan fund. At a minimum, investors need to know that the loans will be underwritten correctly and documented correctly.
Larry has worked closely with Seyoum Mengesha who serves as WEDC’s longtime MBD Director. Together, the two have worked hard to get the MBD Program off the ground, first at the Hmong Chamber and recently at the African American Chamber. The MBD Program’s grants are premised on the ability of the minority business association grantee to attract private investment funds to leverage the grant to increase lending capacity. Commercial lenders and other non-profit investors base their investment decisions in large part on the ability of the minority business association to administer the RLF successfully, with no prior experience (since these are start-up RLFs), and little or no budget or capacity to underwrite, document, account for
Recently, with the continued success of the existing RLFs (including the American Indian Chamber of Commerce of Wisconsin and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Wisconsin), and after serious “lobbying” by Larry and others, WEDC has begun to provide funds to hire consultants to help the minority business associations with process improvements. This includes ensuring that they are in good standing and transparent in their record keeping and data tools. WEDC has also provided funds to engage auditors for annual audits and engage CPAs to prepare quarterly and annual financial statement. And finally, WEDC is now providing funds to support technical assistance in administering the RLFs.
Seyoum (as he is known) told early investors in the Hmong Chamber RLF and recent investors in the African Chamber RLF that these are only made possible with Larry’s support. “Larry is the key foundation because of his willingness to partner with us to review and document the loans themselves,” says Seyoum. “The MBD Program does not yet allocate funds to defray this crucial legal function, meaning we are still dependent on Larry to fill the void by providing his legal services pro bono, and for that we are grateful.”
Lauren Glusman
an Les Pau l and Jac k Glu sm
Fath er’s Day Not e, 2007
LEADING THROUGH EXAMPLE TO ENSURE FUTURE GENERATIONS EMBRACE THE SAME COMMITMENT TO MILWAUKEE AND SMALL BUSINESS.
Larry Glusman: Attorney, Small Business Advocate, Volunteer, Husband & Dad