RAPID: Small Businesses and Access to Legal Resources During the COVID-19 Pandemic

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The COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected businesses of all sizes, particularly small business entrepreneurs. In addition to economic harms, small businesses often lack access to legal resources that would help them navigate issues raised by the pandemic and assist in economic recovery. This project will examine small business’ access to legal advice by generating knowledge about legal challenges they face. As well, this research will assess the effectiveness of different methods of disseminating legal information to small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. This project will incorporate a mixed-methods approach to study small business’ ability to access legal resources during times of economic turmoil. First, the project will employ interview and survey techniques to generate data from small business owners across different demographic groups and industries regarding legal issues they face. Second, using an experimental design the project will examine randomized interventions designed to provide legal information through low-cost means that enable self-help to small business entrepreneurs who lack representation. Findings will provide insight into the ability of small business entrepreneurs to utilize and understand the law during the COVID-19 pandemic.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.