New England Legal Foundation Announces Dr. Bernice A. King as Honorary Chair of Equalizer Institute Advisory Committee

New England Legal Foundation Announces Dr. Bernice A. King as Honorary Chair of Equalizer Institute Advisory Committee

Dr. King brings decades of experience in policy, social change, and advocacy to NELF’s new social economic justice initiative

 

 

 

June 24, 2024 (Boston, Mass.) – New England Legal Foundation (NELF), the leading legal advocate for free enterprise and innovation in the region, has announced Dr. Bernice A. King, CEO of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center For Nonviolent Social Change (The King Center), as the Honorary Chair of the Advisory Committee for the Equalizer Institute.

“Lowering barriers for entrepreneurs to participate in American enterprise is a critical step toward reducing economic and racial inequality. The Equalizer Institute can facilitate the social change that comes from empowering economic growth through much-needed pro-bono legal services,” said Dr. Bernice A. King.

Set to launch in 2025, NELF’s Equalizer Institute will help serve as a free legal clinic for entrepreneurs from underrepresented groups that cannot afford counsel, including black-owned, New American-owned, women-owned, veteran-owned, low income-owned, and college entrepreneur-owned businesses. By overcoming barriers to traditional capital and legal requirements, the Equalizer Institute will help new entrepreneurs successfully launch their ventures.

“NELF’s Equalizer Institute is thrilled to have a nationally respected change-agent like Dr. Bernice A. King leading our Advisory Committee,” said Dan Winslow, President of the New England Legal Foundation. “Dr. King’s decades of successful leadership on social justice issues and her strategic understanding of how legal services can advance economic justice make her the best possible fit for the mission and work of this impactful and necessary initiative to expand the American Dream for historically disenfranchised entrepreneurs.”

With an initial legal clinic planned to open in downtown Boston, Equalizer Institute aims to expand its free legal services to other cities over the next several years. Winslow envisions a national model after proof of concept in Boston. Legal services that will be offered through the Equalizer Institute include the most critical areas of counsel required to overcome legal costs and bureaucratic red tape, including formation, finance, and business transactions; leases and permitting of commercial real estate; human resources and workforce development related to employment; and intellectual property rights such as patents, copyrights, and trademarks.

“By eliminating enormous barriers to entry and entrepreneurship, NELF’s Equalizer Institute has created an innovative approach to filling the gap in the legal ecosystem that now exists between civil legal aid for the poor and market-rate law firms,” said Winslow. “This social justice furthers NELF’s mission to champion free enterprise, individual economic liberties, and inclusive economic growth – linchpins of a democratic society that offers sustainable paths to advance the American ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

The King Center was founded by Coretta Scott King as the official living memorial to the life, work, and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. of nonviolent social change through policy, advocacy, research. Through her work at The King Center, Dr. Bernice A. King educates youth and adults around the world about the nonviolent principles and strategies modeled by her parents. Under her leadership, the Center has implemented numerous initiatives reaching over 500,000 people around the world.

Dr. Bernice A. King received both a Juris Doctor (JD) and Master of Divinity (MDiv) Degrees from Emory University, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Spelman College. In 2007, she established the Be A King Scholarship in honor of her mother at Spelman College. From 1990 -1992 she served as a law clerk for Judge Glenda Hatchett, the Chief Judge of The Fulton County Juvenile Detention Court.

Dr. King is a member of the State Bar of Georgia, admitted since 1992, and a registered mediator through the Georgia Office of Dispute Resolution.  She is also Advisory Council Chair for Ready Life, a Fintech (Financial Technology) Services company that provides a novel pathway to home ownership without a credit score. Additionally, she serves as Consultant for Redemption Holding Company, which is a Black-owned holding company that is currently acquiring a non-Minority Depository Institution in the Rockies Region in order to expand access to capital for people of color.

The Equalizer Institute has received early funding from the Cummings Foundation, the Phyllis & Jerome Lyle Rappaport Foundation, M&T Bank Charitable Foundation, and individual supporters.

 

 

 

 

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About the Equalizer Institute – www.equalizerinstitute.org: The Equalizer Institute is a social economic justice initiative of the New England Legal Foundation that will provide corporate free legal assistance for underserved entrepreneurs to start their new businesses. The Equalizer Institute is generously funded by grants from the Cummings Foundation, Rappaport Foundation, M&T Bank, and other contributors.

 

About the New England Legal Foundation
Founded in 1977, the New England Legal Foundation (NELF – www.newenglandlegal.org) is the leading non-partisan, non-profit public interest law firm in the region dedicated to economic liberty. NELF’s ongoing mission is to champion free enterprise, property rights, rule of law, and inclusive economic growth. We believe that free enterprise is a foundational value of a democratic society and the best opportunity for people to lift themselves to prosperity.