Nixon Peabody helps with financing for new company, creating 40 green jobs

On March 31, 2010, the Business Outreach Center Network, Inc. (BOC) closed a $250,000 venture capital investment in The Sustainable Biodiesel Company, LLC (SBC). BOC is a highly recognized not-for-profit, small business development organization that advises and trains microentrepreneurs in New York City. BOC, through its affiliate, BOC Capital Corp., also makes microloans of up to $25,000 to small businesses. This was BOC’s first equity investment in a startup, and it was made possible by an $800,000 grant from the federal government.

Private Equity associate Michael Mueller, and former NP associate Bijal Vira, both in the New York office, represented BOC as a pro bono client for this transaction. The case came to Nixon Peabody through the Lawyers Alliance for New York. “It was the first time we’ve ever worked with this client. We have given pro bono advice to low-income micro-entrepreneurs in the past, but this project was different. The scale was much larger and it was the organization’s first investment of this type,” Bijal said.

“This transaction provided me with an opportunity to interact with a client extensively, become an integral part of the client’s mission and learn about a new industry” said Michael. As a testament to BOC’s appreciation for Bijal’s and Michael’s guidance and enthusiasm, BOC invited Michael to join its 12-member board of directors.

The primary goal of the equity investment was to help create 40 new “green” jobs in Brooklyn, New York. SBC collects used cooking oil from more than 2,200 New York City restaurants and refines the cooking oil at its own rendering facility, which is located in the Red Hook area of Brooklyn. SBC combines the refined cooking oil with diesel fuel in various proportions. The company then sells the blended fuels to truck and automobile fleets to be used as engine fuel and to residential and commercial buildings to be used as heating fuel. SBC intends to use the new funds to expand its collection, refining and sales operations, and hire approximately 40 new employees.

By the time Nixon Peabody was called in to help draft and negotiate the deal documents, BOC had already completed a thorough due diligence review of the business to satisfy certain requirements attached to its federal grant and also because it was in unfamiliar territory—making its first equity investment. Bijal and Michael engaged in a hard-fought battle to win a multitude of investor-favorable terms for BOC. According to Michael, “SBC was reluctant to acquiesce to our demands because none of its existing investors, some of whom had invested substantially larger sums in the company, had received the terms we proposed.” “We prevailed in the end and convinced SBC that all investors, new and existing, should have the same rights that we demanded,” added Bijal. In addition to the venture capital investment, Nixon Peabody is also helping BOC draft its bylaws and deal with a number of intellectual property and labor issues.

Nixon Peabody lawyers help Haiti nationals residing in the U.S.

After the massive earthquake in Haiti, Janet Napolitano, Secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, announced on January 15, 2010, that Haitian nationals residing in the U.S. could apply for Temporary Protected Status (TPS). The TPS designation would allow Haitian nationals to stay for 18 months and apply for employment authorization that would allow them to join the workforce and send money home to relatives in need.

Responding to requests for how Nixon Peabody could provide pro bono help, Pro Bono Partner Stacey Slater alerted firm lawyers to training sessions on how to help Haitian nationals seek TPS. Since then, lawyers from around the firm have taken advantage of some of these training sessions, including the ones offered through both the Practising Law Institute and the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, with an eye toward providing pro bono help at legal clinics.

Five Nixon Peabody lawyers joined Stacey in staffing one pro bono clinic in New York City, including partner Ray Mariani and associates Kerry Dinneen, Ami-Cietta Duche, Natalie Dennery, and Meghan Fennelly. That clinic, sponsored by the New York City Bar Association, helped 83 individuals with their TPS applications.

Since then, Meghan, paralegal Patrick Dezil and associate Medea Myers have participated in additional clinics. For example, Meghan has attended three additional TPS clinics. Two were operated by the City University of New York (CUNY) in partnership with the New York Legal Aid Society. At one, in Brooklyn, Meghan assisted about 20 individuals. At the other, in Queens, she assisted about 10 individuals. “Each of these clinics was organized so that multiple volunteer attorneys would review each TPS application, with complicated questions flagged for the immigration attorneys on hand. I assisted with both initial screening to assess eligibility for TPS and with final review of an application. I was impressed with the thoroughness of the process, as we handled everything from giving advice on eligibility to taking passport photos,” Meghan said. The third clinic she attended was run by the New York Legal Assistance Group at the Haitian Earthquake Family Resource Center in Brooklyn, where she assisted five individuals with application advice.

“The experiences were wonderful. The applicants are incredibly gracious, and there is a shared sense of purpose between the organizers, volunteer attorneys, and applicants. I helped some family friends with an application, and the parents and two children have already received TPS and work authorization. I know it is a huge relief for them to be able to have the opportunity to support their family here and send assistance to family members back in Haiti in a time of great need,” Meghan said.

Coincidentally, Meghan had been in Haiti just days before the earthquake visiting her fiancé who works there. “I think it is great that the firm is providing pro bono opportunities to help out, in addition to giving a check,” she said.

By helping Haitian immigrants apply for TPS, Nixon Peabody lawyers are not only helping their clients, but also the people in Haiti who will ultimately receive necessary money and aid from their relatives in the United States. The window of opportunity for Haitian nationals to gain TPS designation is only open for a total of 180 days (expiring this summer), so there is still a need for more help. If you would like to get involved, please contact Stacey and she will see if there are clinic opportunities near you.

Nixon Peabody prevails in tough domestic violence-based U visa case

San Francisco partner Carolyn Collins and associate Sushila Chanana recently received good news that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) had granted a U visa petition for a pro bono client who was a victim of domestic abuse. The U visa will allow the client to continue to work in the Bay Area and apply in the future for legal residency in the United States.

This complicated matter began as an asylum case with a serious problem since our client, who is from Mexico, had been in the United States for eight years before realizing she had the option to seek asylum due to years of horrible domestic abuse. Diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder, the client had assisted in the arrest of her abuser in 2007, but still regularly received threatening calls from him even after he returned to Mexico. He was subsequently deported after coming back to the United States.

During the asylum interview process in January 2010, Carolyn and Sushila learned that a removal (deportation) order had been issued for their client when she entered the United States in 2001, so she was ineligible for asylum. So the two lawyers sought an expedited ruling on the U visa they had filed earlier from the USCIS office in Vermont. After first declining that request, the Vermont office was convinced the client’s case warranted expedited handling when they learned of the imminent reactivation of the removal order.

The Nixon Peabody lawyers negotiated the client’s surrender to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and coincident reactivation of her order of removal. Because Vermont had made a favorable preliminary finding on her U visa, they had a strong basis to help convince ICE to exercise its discretion not to incarcerate her, but to supervise her less restrictively—a position ICE accepted.

In mid-February, the lawyers learned that the Vermont office’s ruling on the U visa could take anywhere from a week to several months, depending on whether they needed to ask for additional evidence. On March 1 and 2, Carolyn and Sushila went to the client’s reasonable fear interview in an effort to prevent her removal in the event the U visa was not granted. The weekend before, the client had received more menacing phone calls from her abuser confirming he had been deported to Mexico and remained intent on harming her if he could.

The client’s U visa was approved soon after, and the client’s authorization to work was issued. As the law now stands, the client will be eligible in three years to become a legal resident and, in the meantime, may legally work and continue her productive existence in the Bay Area. She is very excited and grateful.

Carolyn credits the pro bono success to Sushila’s “fabulous and resourceful briefing and evidence compilation.” Because this case was so unusual, the referring agency, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, has asked Nixon Peabody to conduct a training for other pro bono volunteers featuring this outcome as a case study.