Black and Indigenous Business Law Clinic

DLA Piper provides a pro bono legal clinic to qualifying Black and ‎Indigenous-owned businesses in British Columbia and Ontario, Canada. Black and Indigenous small business owners and entrepreneurs seek legal advice on issues encountered including incorporations, structuring, employment, e-commerce, and basic ‎commercial matters. The ‎clinic also runs business law education seminars to help them develop and understand ‎risks as they grow their businesses.

The team of Morgan McDonald, Maneesha Dakha, Tyson Gratton, Becky Rock, Adam Lee, Josh Sved, Caroline Yao (all Vancouver), Cody Koblinsky, Sunil Sharma, and Thomas Prentice (all Toronto) contributed hundreds of hours to pro bono work to the clinic. The clinic’s services are offered in British Columbia in the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh, Musqueam Nations, and in Ontario on Mississaugas of the Credit Nation, Anishnabeg, Chippewa, Haudenosaunee, and Wendat lands.

The work included the following:

• Assisting a membership association with organizing a vendor pop-up by drafting an agreement for use of the licensed space
• Working with a health and wellness boutique to formalize business agreements and plans
• Helping a consulting business by preparing service agreements
• Assisting a business with corporate cleanup and advising on IP protection
• Advising a client in the e-commerce space on their privacy obligations
• Advising e-commerce companies and entrepreneurs on incorporation, intellectual property, and employment matters, and website terms and conditions
• Continuing work with a social impact-focused investment fund to provide services and educational programming to its current and prospective portfolio companies to reach qualifying entrepreneurs seeking investment.

As part of the educational workshops, the clinic provided:

• A five-part educational series for marginalized game designers with Damage Labs, a game studio accelerator
• Twenty-minute consultations as part of the Rise Up Pitch Competition
• Programming for Black women entrepreneurs and the Black Business Association of British Columbia
• Two educational webinars with the Indigenous Fashion Support Program at the Fashion Zone by Ryerson University (a fashion business incubator)
• A mentorship program for Black and Indigenous law students in British Columbia.

"We are proud to be able to serve our community in this way and look forward to another year of helping small businesses in Canada."
– Morgan McDonald, Partner, Vancouver