New York Law School will be expanding the legal services it offers to local entrepreneurs, small businesses and student-athletes, as well as the educational opportunities available to students interested in business law, thanks to a $10 million donation from an honorary degree-holder and trustee, the school announced Wednesday.
Joe Plumeri, who founded the school’s Plumeri Center for Small Business Empowerment, said he made the donation to the center because he wanted to help further power its work, which connects law students with small businesses and entrepreneurs who need legal counsel. The goal is to create opportunity for business owners who couldn’t otherwise afford legal counsel to get it and law students to practice their skills.
It’s one of the largest monetary gifts ever given to New York Law School.
The donation will also allow the center to launch a new Name, Image, and Likeness Clinic for student athletes and other emerging collectives, offering them support in navigating endorsement agreements, branding strategy, compliance, intellectual property and tax considerations as the legal landscape around how student athletes can profit off their name and likeness continues to shift.
“Entrepreneurs embody the drive, resilience, and optimism that power the American Dream,” said Plumeri, who briefly attended NYLS before embarking on a career as a businessman. “I have been so impressed by the work of The Plumeri Center already in giving small business owners access to the knowledge, counsel, business advice, and relationships that can help them turn hard work into lasting opportunity. I am inspired to ensure this work continues to sustain and grow.”
The Plumeri Center will also be using the new funds to create an Entrepreneur-in-Residence program – where it will recruit a seasoned entrepreneur to work with and advise students – increase the number of students who can join the center’s transactional law clinics each year and build new partnerships to expand the center’s reach, like collaborating with nonprofit organizations, government agencies, academic institutions, and private-sector partners.
NYLS will also use some of the funds to further its community partnership work: A portion of the money will go towards supporting the Tribeca Community Economic Development Plan and advancing the NYLS-led initiative to consider and develop a Business Improvement District for the area.
“This transformative commitment to the center’s work will increase the high-quality legal assistance our students and faculty provide to early-stage entrepreneurs, small business owners and workers, community-based merchant associations, veterans, and student athletes,” said New York Law School Dean Anthony Crowell. “It will deepen and extend our role as an anchor institution for our Tribeca and Lower Manhattan community, and establish a best-in-class model for how law schools can support their local communities and help small businesses thrive.”
Plumeri, who received an honorary degree from New York Law School in 2015, grew up in a working-class, immigrant family in Trenton, New Jersey. He’s said he dedicated himself to philanthropy so others can achieve their dreams as well.
Plumeri has since given over $15.5 million to the law school, worked as a senior advisor to Kohlberg, Kravis Roberts & Co., board vice chairman of First Data Corporation, the world’s largest payments and business solutions company and worked for a variety of insurance firms, including serving as CEO of insurance brokerage Willis Group Holdings. He currently serves as chairman of Insurance Advisory Partners.
