Yale Law student Hannah Abelow puts up fliers in New Haven to get the word out about law student initiatives aimed at helping the small business community in the greater New Haven area. Yale Law student Hannah Abelow puts up fliers in New Haven to get the word out about law student initiatives aimed at helping the small business community in the greater New Haven area. Courtesy photo

Helping others in a time of crisis was one reason Yale Law School student Natasha Khan wanted to become an attorney.

Khan, a second-year law student, said she along with her peers realized the COVID-19 pandemic was hitting small businesses in the New Haven area hard. The businesses were affected in many ways, ranging from a loss of income for the owners to much-needed help filling out forms for financial assistance and dealing with having to lay off employees.

So Khan and about 45 fellow students took action and formed the Yale Law School COVID-19 Small Business Relief Project. Jeff Schroeder, who will graduate from Yale Law School in 2021, spearheaded the relief project with Hannah Abelow.

"This is an unprecedented crisis, and it's why I wanted to be a lawyer," Khan said. "In some small way, we are giving back to the greater New Haven community. This has been a real great way for us to use the legal skills we've developed to help our community. We can help explain the law to people."

Under the guidance of professors Jay Pottenger Jr. and Anika Singh Lemar, supervising attorneys for several clinics within the university's Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization, the students, who already have many business clients via the resources of the organization, went out looking for more, with cold calls and by putting fliers across New Haven and surrounding areas.

"They came up with the idea themselves, and it's all theirs. I just supervise them," Pottenger said. "I am extremely proud of them. They are helping clients by phone and email and even Zoom. Students have also dropped off documents for clients and picked them up when the client completed information such as wage and rent numbers. There are many things our students can advise these small-business owners on, including applying for small-business loans."

Abelow, in her second year at Yale Law, said there is no shortage of work. In the past five weeks, students have provided information to more than 60 small businesses, and are in the process of working with a dozen more to fill out applications and provide advice.

"A small-business owner might need our help in applying for a [Paycheck Protection Program] loan. They might not know if they are eligible, if they are too small, or if they have enough employees," Abelow said. "We walk them through the process and help them navigate what programs are available and give them whatever guidance they need in the application process."

In addition, Abelow said, some small-business owners need assistance with filing unemployment papers, want to know how tax laws have changed, and have rent-related questions.

Each small-business owner works with two law school students.

"The response has been overwhelming," Abelow said this week. "People are really struggling now and businesses have been forced to shut down. People need to pay their rent and their utilities."

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