Local Legal Pros Support San Antonio Entrepreneurs’ Dreams

If you are not versed in the law, the legal process can be intimidating. As a result, the legal side of starting a new business can be both a barrier and a dreary requirement. That is why a dedicated team of San Antonio lawyers and paralegals are volunteering their time to give entrepreneurs the resources and confidence to take the next step in building their businesses.

Geekdom, which is San Antonio’s premier collaborative startup community, along with DJ Law Partners and San Antonio Startup Week, host quarterly, no-cost legal clinics for entrepreneurs. The group’s effort is part of a goal to help 100 companies incorporate in 2021 and reinforces Geekdom’s goal to launch 500 startups, with at least 75% calling San Antonio home, in the next ten years. The 100-company goal was met in October 2021, during a legal clinic organized as part of San Antonio Startup Week.

Did you say “free”?

“The idea behind the clinics is to help people who are interested in starting a business get access to lawyers who really know how to start a business and are not just spitting out documents like a legal vending machine,” explains attorney David Jones of DJ Law Partners. Anyone in the San Antonio community can get access to meaningful consultation with lawyers who help them decide whether they should create a formal business entity like an LLC, or not, and the benefits and obligations that come with doing so. Jones says many entrepreneurs do not know where to begin to find the right kind of lawyer to help them.

Geekdom is located downtown, in the heart of the city’s Houston Street Tech district, and according to CEO Charles Woodin, the company is designed “to support entrepreneurs as they launch their ventures” and works “to keep and help grow those new businesses in San Antonio.” As Woodin explains, “Most early-stage startups are focused on their product or service, not on the necessary legal work that needs to happen to protect them. We’re grateful to the attorneys and paralegals who can ensure these entrepreneurs get off to the right start.”

The clinics, which have been offered occasionally since 2014, have two parts. The first session consists of a one-hour questionand-answer session and presentation that includes legal, accounting and tax issues, and the implications of combining those in starting an LLC. A second session provides one-on-one consultation with an attorney and the opportunity to ask questions. Jones’ firm, DJ Law Partners, will file the LLC paperwork with the State of Texas and send participants an email with their certificates of formation and of filing. The attorneys will also provide links to secure a tax ID number and register their company with the appropriate government offices. The LLC filing fee is paid by San Antonio Startup Week, and all lawyers and paralegals volunteer their services. Jones estimates the value of both sessions, including the filing fees, is approximately $1,000 for each person who participates.

Participants and volunteers discuss common issues like business structure and corporate formation at one of the early Geekdom legal clinics in 2014.

Photo courtesy of Geekdom

Participants and volunteers discuss common issues like business structure and corporate formation at one of the early Geekdom legal clinics in 2014.

Photo courtesy of Geekdom

Participants and volunteers discuss common issues like business structure and corporate formation at one of the early Geekdom legal clinics in 2014.

Photo courtesy of Geekdom

“It’s a game changer,” says Zari Chipman, who provides paralegal services for the clinics. “We’ve helped people who may not be able to afford the cost of legal services and filing. Or they think it’s too hard, or they don’t have the time.” Daria Galbraith, who also volunteers paralegal services, agrees. “Legal consultations are expensive and often intimidating.” She says the team of lawyers Jones assembles for the clinics is comprised of a variety of specialties, so the entrepreneurs attending are made aware of resources and contacts available to them. “This allows people to locate and avoid the pitfalls of starting a new business such as pursuing the wrong entity type for their business.”

Working smarter, not harder

In the first three legal clinics held in 2021, more than eighty companies were incorporated. Belinda Medellin’s BMyVillage was one of them. A former teacher at CAST Tech High School, Medellin knew she wanted to start her own business so that she could make a bigger impact in education and help more students. She was familiar with Geekdom because of its relationship with CAST Tech and so became a member. Medellin attended a startup weekend where she first learned about the legal clinic. “I feel like I could have figured it out, scoured the internet, and seen what it took to get my business up and running, but since this resource was already there, it made sense to work smarter and not harder.” Medellin missed the part about the filing fee being covered and was “flabbergasted, especially because of the caliber of their legal team.” Her BMyVillage app connects highly successful teachers and matches them with motivated teachers who want one-to-one coaching or training in their teaching field. As a mom who understands trying to balance teaching with being a single parent, Medellin wanted something that filled a hole in training programs, which are usually geared toward professional development. She describes BMyVillage as similar to a dating app without all the baggage. Medellin appreciates that she received sound advice from the clinic and even followed up with Jones to learn about the legalities of working with independent contractors. She is grateful to Jones and his team and adds, “They listened to the questions we had, and you can see the humanity in their hearts, which sounds very ‘teachery,’ but they actually care.”

Taking the first step

That empathy is what drew attorney Samar Shah to volunteer his services. “I have always believed that owning and growing small businesses is one of the most effective ways to wealth in America, and anything that I can do to help support and forward that mission is important to me,” he says. “I just wanted to help out, and it’s been very fulfilling.” According to Shah, many first-time small business owners really do not know the first step to take from a legal perspective. As he explains, “You walk into a lawyer’s office, and you may not know how much it’s going to cost and what’s going to come out of it, so I think people avoid it. And this clinic removes that barrier.” Shah adds that the clinics answer a lot of very simple and straightforward questions and participants leave with a better understanding of what they need and do not need. “There are 100 reasons to not start a business,” he observes, and “we can remove some of those barriers and make things a little easier. It’s really a wonderful program and it’s unique.”

Matthew Munroe agrees. Attending the legal clinic allowed him to focus on his business rather than trying to figure out how to register it. “You don’t need to be technical to start a business. You just need to have an idea,” Munroe says, adding that although “it’s not an easy staircase to climb,” he encourages those who want it to “keep pushing because it’s worth it.” Oscar Perez heard about the legal clinic from a friend, and it proved to be the key to pushing him to register his company. “Entrepreneurs don’t really have a set salary until they’re more established. Without the clinics’ help, it would have taken me longer to register my company and to come up with the funds to do it.” Perez found that getting help from the free legal clinics was very useful and “a great, great tool.”

David Jones, founder of the Geekdom legal clinics, and Belinda Medellin, who used the clinic’s resources to launch her business.

Photo courtesy of Geekdom

Making dreams real

Jones, Shah, and the rest of the team, in the aftermath of all the awfulness of 2020, want to do their part and make the community they live in a better place. Jones believes it is important to reach out to communities who might not otherwise have access to these legal services. The profiles of those attending clinics show he is achieving that goal. As a bonus, he says, “I’ve learned so many things about so many things.” Starting a business “is really cool, and it takes courage. We try to emphasize that this is a milestone and something you should be proud of and celebrate.” After working at a few clinics, Chipman ended up filing her own LLC for her dream business, “11 & Above” and admits she never would have taken that step on her own because she is “from a small town and a minority and maybe didn’t have the best education growing up.” Working with Jones made her realize, “Okay, this is possible. I can be someone who has her own business and become an entrepreneur.”

David Jones founded the legal clinic at Geekdom to help entrepreneurs launch their ventures from a sound footing.

Photography by Courtney Warden

And that makes Jones happy. Chipman and the others are “crossing a threshold where this dream is about to become real.” As a post-clinic email sent to participants says: “Congratulations! Some people look at this as just a formality, and it is to a degree, but it’s also something more important than that. You are now the proud owner of a real-life, bouncing baby company. Celebrate that!

If you’d like to volunteer your legal or paralegal services at an upcoming clinic, contact David Jones at david@djlawpartners. com. For information about attending a Geekdom legal clinic, visit https://geekdom. com or https://sasw.com.

Carolyn Wheat is a San Antonio-based freelance writer and public relations professional.