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Date: 1/21/2020
CHESTER – When Attorney Emily E. Smith-Lee opened Hilltown Law on Main Street in Chester this past fall, it was the fulfillment of a dream she has had for many years.
Smith-Lee has operated SLN Law in Sharon for 10 years, a practice she founded in 2009 after 13 years as an associate and then-partner in the Boston office of a large international law firm. Her practice’s primary focus is estate planning, employment law and business law. She has been named to the Massachusetts Super Lawyer list every year since 2013, and was recently named a 2018 Lawyer of the Year by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly.
Chester is where Smith-Lee’s mother, Shirley Winer, lives and where she spent summers as a child growing up in Connecticut. After all the children had moved out, Winer moved full-time to the farm on Kinnebrook Road in Chester, and is active in the community, serving as a member of the Gateway School Committee for the past 20 years. Chester is where the family gathers for holidays, for sugaring, or just to spend time.
Smith-Lee said she has noticed for a long time that there didn’t seem to be legal resources of any kind in the hilltowns. In the back of her mind, she thought, “why not try to bring something out here.” This past October, she hung up her shingle in a shared space at 26 Main St., Suite B in Chester.
Initially, as the practice builds, Smith-Lee’s office hours in Chester are on Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday mornings by appointment. However, the law office is available during the week by calling 667-2322, where one of the team members in Sharon will answer, and can schedule a phone or video conference with Smith-Lee any day of the week. Her vision is to eventually get to a place to be able to hire someone local to be in the Chester office.
Smith-Lee said that she is finding the biggest need for her hilltown clients is preparing wills, the sort of work that she expected to find. The second biggest need to date has been landlord-tenant issues, which, while not a specialty of hers, she is helping people in that area.
She said there is a fair amount of need in the small business community for incorporating businesses, and protecting brands and trademarks. She said she is running into a lot of people who are operating small businesses as a DBA with no corporate entity, which creates risks and complications.
“People don’t understand incorporation is not that hard, and offers liability protection,” Smith-Lee said.
Another need she’s finding is for real estate attorneys, which is not her area of expertise, and she is hoping to make a connection with a real estate attorney in the future.
“I can just say there seems to be a lot of need on all fronts,” Smith-Lee said.
Most of her hilltown clients to date have been referrals or by word of mouth. Feedback from the community has been mostly very positive, she said, adding that her favorite comment from a local to date was, “a lawyer in Chester?”
Hilltown Law is located next door to the Village Enterprise Center, the home of the Southern HIlltowns Adult Education Center (SHAEC). This February through May, Smith-Lee is joining them to offer a series of free classes at the VEC in Chester, and at the HIlltown Community Development Corporation in Chesterfield.
To pre-register for one of Smith-Lee’s free classes, call or email SHAEC at 354-1055 email: Southernhilltownsaec@gmail.com, giving the date and location of the class you would like to attend; or sign up online at www.SHAEC.org
How and why to incorporate your business
Feb. 20, 6 to 7:30 p.m. Hilltown CDC Chesterfield, March 5, 6 to 7:30, VEC Chester. Understand the difference between operating as a sole proprietorship or dba and forming a business entity, what your business entity options are, and how you can get it done. Topics include protecting your personal assets with a corporation; the difference between an LLC and an S Corp; How to incorporate in Mass., and when you need a lawyer and when you can do it yourself.
Protecting your brand and business name
Mar. 19, 6 to 7:30 p.m., Hilltown CDC, Chesterfield; April 2, 6 to 7:30 p.m., VEC, Chester. Learn how to use trademark and copyright to secure legal protection for your business name, taglines and logos you use in your business and your creative work. Topics include what kinds of things can be protected by trademark laws; free resources to check if anyone else has trademarked a name or tagline; protecting your brand online by acquiring domains; how to get trademark protection, and how to protect yourself when paying someone else to develop images, written content, or other creative work.
Landlord/tenant clinic
March 26, 6 to 7:30 p.m., VEC in Chester. Both owners and landlords should understand the Landlord/Tenant laws in Mass. Topics include security deposits, should you take them and what requirements do you have to follow if you do; what rights the tenant has without a written lease; required legal process for ending a tenancy and recovering possession, and tenants’ legal rights during and after tenancy.
Estate Planning Basics
April 16 – 6 to 7:30 p.m. HCDC Chesterfield, May 7, 6 to 7:30 VEC, Chester. A brief course on the basic elements of an estate plan in Massachusetts, including what happens to your assets if you pass without a will; how can you avoid or minimize the need to go to probate court; when you need to worry about estate taxes; how to keep assets intact and in the family (land or family businesses); how to protect assets from assisted living/nursing home costs, and addressing unique circumstances like a blended family, a family member with special needs, and more.