Washington Lawyer - November/December 2024 - 20

FEATURE
HAROLD FOX
Honigman LLP
Even those in the know
about the CTA will benefit
from increased awareness
and attention. Fox notes that
recent U.S. Supreme Court
decisions have cast a long
shadow across many kinds of
administrative actions. Following
the U.S. District Court
for the Northern District of
Alabama's ruling in National
Small Business United v. Yellen
that the CTA was unconstitutional,
FinCEN was prohibited
from enforcing the act
against the plaintiffs.
Subsequently, FinCEN announced
that although the
agency would comply with
the court's order as it relates
to the plaintiffs in the case, it intended to continue implementing the
CTA against other parties. The Department of the Treasury, represented
by Secretary Janet Yellen, appealed the decision. The result, according to
Kulumani, is confusion and uncertainty among both attorneys and business
owners.
Even if the CTA is ultimately defeated, Kulumani says small business owners
can still benefit from the clinics as an opportunity to review their
ownership structures. " There are family businesses that are corporations
but never issued stock certificates, " Kulumani says. CTA-related inquiries
can result in those businesses establishing more definitive ownership
structures, which eliminate potential conflicts and can impact the tax liability
of businesses and their owners.
For Honigman, hosting the clinics with the Pro Bono Center has been a
valuable opportunity to introduce itself to the District. " We're not here
just to have an office in D.C.; we want to be a part of the community, "
Fox says. " I've been in D.C. for the bulk of my career, and I know how important
it is in the culture of D.C. to be an active participant. "
Reach D.C. Bar staff writer Jeremy Conrad at jconrad@dcbar.org.
LARKIN continued from page 15
Pro bono attorneys can have questionand-answer
sessions with judges in a
particular area. All of those things try
to make it easier for people to volunteer
their time as pro bono attorneys.
[Regarding] the ADA coordinator, we
have an online portal that if any member
of the public has any sort of disability
and needs an accommodation
to allow them to either access services
or participate in the court, they can
just go right on our website and enter
their information into that portal, and
that goes straight to our ADA coordinator.
How
will District residents find out
about the Access to Justice Unit?
Anytime I've given a tour of the courthouse,
especially to attorneys, they always
remark, " I never knew the court had so many great programs here. "
So, part of that is getting the word [out] that we have a lot of great opportunities
and programs and services for pro se parties.
An access to justice strategy is going to look [holistically] at ... when
someone has a legal issue, if they know their rights, and if they know
where to go if they need help. People often start with the court's website.
Another initiative that we are working on is redesigning that website
to make it more user-friendly.
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There will be a place where people can get reliable, accurate information
about the law and court procedures. We also will be doing outreach at
various District festivals like the H Street Festival and Adams Morgan Day.
We will participate in things like that where we will be talking directly to
the public to let them know [about] these services.
Reach D.C. Bar staff writer John Murph at jmurph@dcbar.org.
Pixabay
Honigman LLP
Washington Lawyer - November/December 2024

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