Past Clients

Flipside Hats is a family owned small business located in Portland, Oregon. All hats are handmade, with special attention to detail, design, and quality. Founder and designer, Kori Giudici, first started making hats when she was 12, and her patterns have evolved over the years. Flipside Hats was born out of necessity, to raise funds to support Kori’s medical schooling. As the business grew, and as Kori became a naturopathic doctor, Flipside Hats gained a new dream of supporting an affordable health care clinic for those in need of both chronic and preventative care. Kori works everyday with that goal in mind, striving to earn Flipside Hats the slogan “Hats that Heal.” Flipside Hats believes in sharing: they donate a portion of their profit and products to local school and grassroots organizations in the Pacific Northwest. Flipside Hats came to the SBLC’s Pro Bono Project in Fall of 2010. Flipside Hats was paired with Meghan Williams, who drafted an independent contractor’s agreement Flipside Hats will use with its seamstresses. Ms. Williams also revised Flipside Hats’ Operating Agreement.

Shojen LLC is a green ambient media company that offers advertising and marketing solutions on environmentally friendly products. Shojen also executes complete digital makeovers for their client’s online presence, social networking, and search engine marketing. Shojen is committed to natural communication and helping brands minimize their environmental impact from their marketing efforts. Shojen’s engaging eco-friendly communications and customized websites help their clients get noticed by their target market. Shojen hopes its operations will further increase awareness and help educate others on good environmental marketing practices. A portion of all of their eco-advertising campaigns and web development projects will be donated to Hope Worldwide and Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Troy Jensen, owner of Shojen LLC contacted the SBLC in Fall 2010. The SBLC drafted an Intern Agreement, a Venue Agreement, and an Advertising Contract. The SBLC also conducted an entity audit to ensure all its corporate documents were completed correctly, and gave advice regarding hiring unpaid interns.

Sinister Coffee & Creamery, LLC is an online business with a spooky theme selling coffee beans and ice cream. Kelly and Michelle Kaliher began their business in 2018, making “paranormal-themed coffees [that] are small batch roasted to ensure your experience delivers spooky good flavors with every brew.” While Sinister Coffee & Creamery is mostly conducted online, you can find them at the PSU Saturday Farmers’ Market. They were able to secure a booth at the farmers’ market after only a year of operations, which is a remarkable feat since many businesses are only accepted at the market after 5 years of operation.

Founded in 1997 by Hoa and Linda Lam, the family-owned Professional Auto Body & Paint Inc. has been in operation for over 20 years. When Hoa and Linda retired in 2018, they passed down their business to their son, Anthony Lam, and his partner, Nancy Le. Starting a new chapter for an inherited business is no small feat, especially when faced with the challenges and uncertainty of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Waves Caribbean, owned by Patrick Prince, is an up-and-coming Caribbean sauce company dedicated to bringing unique, ready-made sauces into everyone’s homes. Starting from his family’s recipes, Patrick spent years preparing the sauces for commercial use while simultaneously maintaining their integrity. A true family-supported business, he jokes that he sometimes wondered if either he or his mom would make it out of the kitchen alive. Each sauce contains a unique combination of flavors that highlight Patrick’s blended cultural past with tastes from Trinidad and Jamaica

“We sell experiences”, says Robin Murphy, owner of Oregon Coast Glassworks. Robin, an accountant by trade, and her husband William, both Native American, started the business from scratch about 10 years ago in Newport. 

Meals 4 Heels, owned by Nikeisah Newton, originally started as a late night healthy eating option for exotic dancers and sex workers. As Portland is both known for its eclectic food and high number of strip clubs per capita, Nikeisah sought to combine these two themes into a niche industry that could supply healthy eating options for late night workers. Beginning in January of 2019, news of Meals for Heels traveled via word of mouth and she took orders directly from Instagram direct messages, texts, calls, etc. Additionally, by being able to directly message Meals for Heals, Nikeisah was able to remove the “creepy guy factor” that comes with ordering from a food delivery app and having a complete stranger deliver food to a club.

There are many paths to growing a small business and Rosalee Rester, owner of Baby Wit, LLC has explored quite a few. Baby Wit “creates quirky, eclectic T-shirts that show the world your baby has serious style” (https://www.babywit.com/about/)

Family Essentials, LLC, owned by Louise Williams, helps low-income families by offering transitional housing to clients who are referred by a social service agency. The business offers a hands-on program and Louise operates like a social worker/landlord hybrid. While tenants are enrolled in the program, they have stability, a place to call home, a chance to build rental history, and an opportunity to receive instruction focused on learning how to be a good tenant. Families are usually in the space for 3-8 months and pay rent at about 60-80% market rate. The Small Business Legal Clinic has enjoyed working on both simple and complex legal issues for Family Essentials, LLC.

When Ruth Flores of RLF Ceramic Design Center LLC discusses her small business, she tells a compelling story full of grit, hard work, and surprises. Ruth’s business makes aquarium décor from ceramic materials. To grow her business over the past 28 years, Ruth underwent a remarkable journey. She built a national company from scratch, made an incredible discovery, was ousted from her own company after a legal dispute, and eventually was able to regain much of what she lost through federal trademark registration and hard work.

LaShawnda Johnson, the owner of Desired Nails and Massage began down the path towards owning her own small business after renting space in a nail salon. She had dreamed of becoming a massage therapist, and after practicing her craft for several years, she not only learned a lot about massage therapy & nails, but came to discover that she loved the work and wanted to start her own business.

We’re excited to highlight The Big Elephant Kitchen, a Fijian Indian restaurant that opened in May of 2017. Owned by Saleshni, Deon, and Deepak Sundar, the business is a family undertaking. The owners decided to go into business for themselves after gaining experience managing other food businesses. They wanted to bring their unique and delicious cuisine to Portland. During the process of opening the business, they convinced their mother and father to join them.  Rajni, their mother, is working magic in the kitchen while Shailendra, their father, can likely be found searching for breadfruit or some other unique ingredient.

Summit Wood Creations is a local small business specializing in hand-crafted custom wood furniture. The owner, Reyna Badillo, started building custom furniture largely because of her childhood experiences seated at a handmade dresser. Gifted to her by her grandmother, the dresser holds a lot of sentimental value and has been in her family for four generations. When Reyna realized that she can create the furniture through which clients’ own special memories might be made, she discovered her passion. She turned this passion into a business back in 2001. While the business previously focused on residential custom furniture, they have expanded into custom furniture in the commercial arena.

NW Ferments is a new up-and-coming Portland-area business. Sue and Wendy have fermented foods for many years as a hobby. When the fermenting company that they worked for decided to move to another state, they decided to open their own company that would bring fermenting to every type of person. They came to the Small Business Legal Clinic in early 2016 to start their own businesses and negotiate the end of their work with the previous business.

Glow Interior Design LLC is a Portland interior design company with a diverse portfolio of projects throughout the Western United States that includes downtown city lofts, executive suites, residential and vacation homes, multi-family housing, retail and medical offices. In July of 2008, Lisa Warnock, Principal of Glow Interior Design, came to the SBLC for advice regarding starting her newest interior design business and dissolving her old design partnership. The SBLC was able to help Lisa form a limited liability company and advise her regarding local and state business requirements. (Intern, Summer 2008)

B-Line Urban Delivery, owned by Franklin and Kathryn Racine-Jones, provides unique sustainable delivery services for the Portland-Metro area. B-Line uses “trike-trucks” to make deliveries in downtown and other close-in neighborhoods so that businesses no longer need to deal with the hassle of conventional trucks and vans in these central areas of Portland. By using electric-assisted trike-trucks, B-Line provides sustainable and efficient delivery services in the Portland urban core. B-Line has been a client of the SBLC in two semesters, where student interns have obtained intellectual property protection, drafted a client contract, researched employer regulations and drafted an employee handbook. (Intern Program, Summer and Fall 2009)

Molly Gisi created collaborative and community initiative to support deployed military service members by way of cards, letters and care packages. When Molly’s son graduated from Navy Boot Camp in 2008, he told her how some of his friends had not received any mail while at Boot Camp. Molly began writing letters that she asked be passed on to recruits who were not receiving any mail. Other Navy mothers began assisting Molly and the project has grown to over 400 people a year volunteering their time to write letters and send care packages to deployed service members. We helped Molly register as a nonprofit in Oregon, and apply for 501(c)(3). (Pro Bono Project, Summer 2009)

Aprende con Amigos Preschool Academy is a Spanish immersion preschool for children three to five years of age. The preschool uses a team-teaching framework, where two teachers consistently speak in Spanish and one teacher consistently speaks in English, so the children are immersed in Spanish for two-thirds of the day. Stacey Alonso founded the preschool in 2009. Stacey worked with an attorney in the Pro Bono Project, who drafted an employment agreement and employee handbook for the preschool. (Pro Bono Project, Spring 2009)