COVER STORY

A small businessperson, particularly one who is just trying to get a business off the ground, has myriad questions – and many of them veer toward the legal.

Is the storefront I want to rent comparable to others in the area and is the lease fair? What are the advantages of being a sole proprietor instead of incorporating? Can I learn what I need to know on the Internet instead of funneling some of my start-up costs or hard-earned revenues toward lawyers’ fees?

A number of the answers to these questions are just a phone call away – and not always to an attorney. In fact, many are free for the asking.

The Small Business Administration partners with state universities throughout the country to offer a Small Business Development Center. The center, in turn, creates regional offices with the sole responsibility of helping small businesses with all of their questions. In New Hampshire, the regional office is based in Rochester, with staff that travels to the Portsmouth area. In Maine, the office is in Sanford, with staff that travels to York.

Warren Daniel, director of the Rochester SBDC office, said his staff can offer the prospective or established small business owner a variety of services, for free, that can help him or her sort out legal concerns.

“We’re not attorneys, obviously, but we disseminate information relative to business that can be a real help,” he said.

How to incorporate, an all important first step, is just the beginning.

“We can assist with advising on lease negotiations. We can do market comparisons. I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I have a feel for that. We can help the client do some market analysis. We help the client help themselves,” he said.

Business counselors help clients with an array of questions. Typical clients might include those who want to grow their business but have neither the time nor the expertise to do it, those seeking capital, those who need help with a business plan, among others.

Another SBA-partner organization is geared toward women. The Women’s Business Center in Portsmouth offers a variety of free workshops and seminars, like the SBCD, and has a full-time business counselor, as well.

“Our counselor has access to people who have legal expertise. Is your question appropriate to bring to a lawyer, or not? We can answer that question through the counseling process,” said center executive director Ellen Fineberg.

For example, business people can find a lot of their answers or download documentation online, and the counselor will help with ferreting out that information, “so you can cut down on the time you spend with a lawyer.” On the other hand, she said, sometimes a lawyer truly is the answer.

“It’s like medicine. You can go online, and learn an awful lot about a medical problem, but at some point you need to see a doctor,” she said.

On the for-profit side of the equation, a new service in the Portsmouth area offers a hybrid between free, nonlegal advice and advice from an attorney that charges in the hundreds of dollars an hour. Prepaid Legal Services, which recently opened a branch in Rye, is a national corporation based on the premise that there is strength in numbers.

The service, which is for both individuals and business owners, charges a fee of $25.95 a month or $321 a year. In exchange for that fee, the person has unlimited telephone access to attorneys it says are among the top in the nation. Other services include two calls or letters to another party per year, a document review once a year for businesses and will preparation. If someone sues a business person individually as well as his or her business, which is covered by insurance, Prepaid Legal Services attorneys will expend 60 hours of time for trial defense.

There is also an identity theft monitoring program that would protect the business owner and employees.

Beyond these services, any legal fees are offered at a 25 percent discount.

Kevin Ouellette, who is the New Hampshire associate of Prepaid Legal Services, said this kind of service can be offered at such low prices simply because of sheer numbers. There are 1.5 million members nationwide, which in turn makes it desirable for top firms to become involved.

Ouellette is also a small business owner and finds this concept of low fees for big legal return appealing.

“It makes sense,” he said. “If you don’t know your rights, you don’t have any.”