Local Law Firm Launches Pro Bono Clinic Geared Towards Helping Black Business Owners And Entrepreneurs
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - A local law firm is answering the call for systemic change in the Black community.
Jackson Kelly Law Firm launched a pro bono clinic this week through its Pittsburgh office. The program is geared towards helping Black business owners and entrepreneurs.
A team of legal experts from the firm is providing free consultations for Black businesses that have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, strained by systemic racism and other factors taking a negative toll on business.
This initiative was introduced by a group of African American attorneys and legal consultants from Jackson Kelly's Pittsburgh office.
Derrick Maultsby, a Jackson Kelly Legal Consultant, was one of the people behind this program.
In response to recent tragedies involving police brutality, he said he was emboldened to turn his expertise into purpose.
"I sat there and I thought, 'what can we do?' We have these great resources and these great skills that we've been blessed with. How can we really make a change?" said Maultsby.
Maultsby also stressed to KDKA the importance of making sure the Black community has access to resources like this.
"You have these federal funding programs and the state-run funding programs. They are complicated. It's constantly a moving target continuously changing. We work on it all the time and sometimes we don't know what's going on," said Maultsby.
To register for these free business consultations, you need to fill out an intake form on the firm's website.