(Legal Equity Advancement Program)

Purpose of LEAP
Multiple events and tragedies in 2020 focused the nation’s attention on systemic racism and disparate impacts on
black communities across the country. To make a difference within the communities in which we live and do business,
McNees is pleased to announce its Legal Equity Advancement Program through which it will provide Black-owned or
-operated businesses with up to a year’s worth of pro bono legal services. By marshalling McNees’s resources to offer
free legal services to Black-owned and -operated businesses, we seek to help bridge the socio-economic gaps caused
by systemic racism.

Program Application Process & Eligibility

Many early stage business owners cannot afford the
sophisticated legal services that often are necessary to
properly launch or grow a business. LEAP acknowledges that
this barrier is more severe for Black-owned or -controlled
businesses. Through LEAP, McNees will award up to five
such businesses with $50,000 of pro bono legal services,
each, during their first year of engagement with McNees.
All practice areas at McNees will be available to assist the
awardees with services ranging from entity formation
and support raising capital or with financing, to contract
review/negotiation, licensing and permitting, real estate,
employment law, and tax, to name a few. In addition,
McNees will offer the awardees educational opportunities
for certain areas of the law.
We believe the suite of legal services offered by McNees will
help the awardees meet their business needs and accomplish
their business goals.
• Applicants must be located within the eight-county
region of South-Central Pennsylvania, including
Dauphin, Cumberland, Perry, Franklin, Adams, York,
Lancaster and Lebanon Counties.
• Applicants’ business must be at least 51% Black-owned or
-controlled.
• The business must be an early stage or growth business,
which means that the business is recently formed/not yet
established (“startup”) or has limited amounts of capital
funding.
• The initial eligibility application is available at
www.mcneeslaw.com/leap-sf and must be submitted by
December 11, 2020.
• Eligible applicants will be notified by McNees and will
proceed through a comprehensive application process,
which will include a more detailed written application
and an interview (via Teams or in person).

How to Apply Alternatively, please submit hard copy applications to:

Interested business owners must complete the initial
eligibility application in the link below by
5 pm ET, December 11, 2020.2020 ATTN: Nicole Fiamingo
McNees Wallace & Nurick LLC
100 Pine Street
https://www.mcneeslaw.com/leap-sf Harrisburg, PA 17101

Applications submitted by US Mail must be postmarked

by: December 11, 2020.
2020