LANSING – One of the state’s top law firms said Wednesday that it is donating $1 million in legal fees over the next five years to help startup companies in the state.
The managing partner of Grand Rapids-based Varnum LLP was joined by Governor Rick Snyder at a press conference in Lansing as the second major program in an “economic gardening” effort by the state and private corporations to build the state’s economy.
Last week, at the Detroit Regional Chamber’s Mackinac Island conference, Snyder announced a program where banks and other companies said they would pump more than $2.5 billion into the state’s economy over the next two years.
Lawrence Murphy said under the proposal the law firm expects to help as many as 60 companies a year for the next five years in start-up issues to get a firm on the road to selling products or services and hiring individuals.
Calling the program “MISpringboard,” Murphy said the company would work with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation to identify companies that could need the legal advice to get underway.
Snyder said the program hearkens back to his early professional days when he served as the treasurer of an inventors’ council. It can take an average as much as seven years to go from an initial idea to actually selling goods, Mr. Snyder said, so the offer of free legal advice could help companies.
He also said the program would not pick winners and losers, since the due diligence process would help determine which companies are most ready for the assistance. Sometimes companies would not be ready, rework their business plans, and then be ready at another time, he said.
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