Local Legal Pros Support San Antonio
reams D reams
Entrepreneurs’ By Carolyn Wheat
Article photography by Courtney Warden and Geekdom
Participants and volunteers discuss common issues like business structure and corporate formation at one of the early Geekdom legal clinics in 2014. Photos courtesy of Geekdom.
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f 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, 16 San Antonio Lawyer® | sabar.org
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
