New York Law School has received a $10 million gift from businessman Joe Plumeri to launch a new center that will provide free legal help to small-business owners, entrepreneurs and student-athletes across the city. The gift will fund the Plumeri Center for Small Business Empowerment, which the school says will connect law students with small businesses and entrepreneurs who need legal counsel they otherwise could not afford.
According to amNewYork, the donation is one of the largest monetary gifts ever given to New York Law School and brings Plumeri’s total giving to the institution to more than $15.5 million. The school, which sits in Tribeca, says the center will draw on the “power and breadth” of its clinics, faculty, students, alumni and civic profile to assist small businesses and innovators, according to New York Law School.
Plumeri founded the center and, per amNewYork, said he donated to further power its work. New York Law School President and Dean Anthony Crowell said, per amNewYork, that the gift will increase legal assistance for early-stage entrepreneurs, small business owners and workers, community-based merchant associations, veterans, and student-athletes. Crowell also said the donation will deepen the school’s role in the Tribeca and Lower Manhattan community and establish a model for law schools supporting local communities and small businesses, amNewYork reports.
Four Clinics and a New Focus on the Gig Economy
The school’s own announcement details how the center’s legal work will be organized. Four existing clinics will pursue the center’s mission: the Small Business and Nonprofit Clinic, the USPTO Patent Law Clinic, the Trademark Clinic and the Veterans Justice Clinic, according to New York Law School. The center will also establish what the school calls a “cutting-edge” Gig Economy Project aimed at helping small-business owners and gig workers navigate New York’s regulatory and policy environment.
Students will gain what the school describes as critical real-world legal experience through the center’s work, and the Plumeri Center for Small Business Empowerment page notes that students receive hands-on training in the legal practice areas that support small business from corporate, government and nonprofit experts, according to New York Law School’s program page. The center will also increase the number of students joining its transactional law clinics each year and build partnerships with nonprofit organizations, government agencies, academic institutions and private-sector partners, per amNewYork.
A New Name, Image and Likeness Clinic
Among the center’s new offerings will be a name, image and likeness clinic supporting student-athletes and other emerging collectives, amNewYork reports. That clinic will offer support for endorsement agreements, branding strategy, compliance, intellectual property and tax considerations. The center will also create an entrepreneur-in-residence program that recruits a seasoned entrepreneur to work with and advise students, according to the same amNewYork report.
The scale of the potential client base is significant. New York City has more than 180,000 small businesses, most with fewer than six employees, and nearly half are immigrant-owned, according to New York Law School. The Plumeri Center says it aims to provide legal advice and representation to low-income small-business owners and innovators to help them grow their businesses.
Tribeca Business District and Plumeri’s Own Ties to the School
New York Law School will also support a Tribeca community economic development plan and advance an initiative to consider and develop a business improvement district for the neighborhood, per amNewYork. The city’s Department of Small Business Services defines a Business Improvement District as a geographical area where local stakeholders oversee and fund the maintenance, improvement and promotion of the area, according to the NYC Department of Small Business Services.
Plumeri’s connection to the school runs deep. He briefly attended New York Law School and received an honorary degree from the school in 2015, rather than earning a regular law degree there, amNewYork reports. He grew up in a working-class immigrant family in Trenton, New Jersey, and went on to serve as CEO of Willis Group Holdings, board vice chairman of First Data Corporation — described as the world’s largest payments and business solutions company — a senior advisor to Kohlberg, Kravis Roberts & Co., and currently chairs Insurance Advisory Partners, according to the same report. Separately, New York Law School’s announcement notes that Plumeri also served as a senior adviser to KKR and as president of Citigroup and its predecessor companies, and that he sits on the school’s Board of Trustees as the center’s founder.
Building on an Earlier Gift and a Post-9/11 Tradition
This is not Plumeri’s first major investment in the school. In 2015, a $5 million gift from Plumeri helped create the Joe Plumeri Center for Social Justice and Economic Opportunity at New York Law School, according to Rider University. That earlier center housed more than 20 NYLS legal clinics and provided free legal services to a diverse New York City client base, per a report from National Jurist.
The school’s commitment to helping small businesses in Lower Manhattan predates even that gift. New York Law School has a documented history of providing free legal services to Lower Manhattan small-business owners and entrepreneurs, beginning with the Distressed Small Business Project after the September 11 attacks, according to New York Law School’s own historical account. The school’s Tribeca campus has served as its main campus since 2009, and 2026 marks its 135th anniversary.
How the Model Compares Elsewhere
New York Law School is not alone in pairing law students with underserved entrepreneurs. Northeastern University’s Community Business Clinic, founded with a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce, offers students real-world experience providing free, business-related legal services to startups, entrepreneurs and small businesses, according to Northeastern University School of Law. That clinic helps clients with incorporation, entity selection, and contract negotiation, drafting and review.
Stanford Law School launched a similar effort last year with its Entrepreneurship Clinic, which counsels low-income entrepreneurs, small businesses and nonprofits, according to Stanford University. The Stanford program allows students to spend a full quarter working in the clinic without balancing a regular course load. Back in New York, the school points to its own track record as evidence the model works, noting that 95% of its Class of 2023 was employed.
