The Project Will Serve the Businesses and Gig Workers They Rely Upon Through Direct Legal Guidance and Research, and Serve as Hub for Future-Shaping Programs and Partnerships with Policymakers, Businesses, and Labor Advocates
New York Law School (NYLS) and its Plumeri Center for Small Business Empowerment are launching the Gig Economy Project, a pioneering initiative addressing the legal and policy challenges facing New York’s fast-growing gig and freelance workforce. The Project will provide direct legal guidance, conduct research, and serve as a hub for dialogue on how technology and law will shape the future of small business labor and the regulatory ecosystem that will surround it.
The Gig Economy Project at the Plumeri Center for Small Business Empowerment
Gig work is exploding around the country and especially in New York City, where New Yorkers have embraced app-based work like few others — as customers, small business owners, and workers. Recent studies show that New Yorkers order more than 1.5 million packages a day; their app-based food deliveries account for some 15% of total New York City restaurant sales; and Ubers and Lyfts far outnumber the city’s traditional yellow (and green) taxis. All these and many other small technological transactions have led to new opportunities and challenges for current and aspiring small business owners, as well as a growing workforce that powers small businesses in all five boroughs: currently, some 70,000 workers do food app deliveries alone in New York City. The growth of app-based work has led to many new questions, including about how business is done, workers make a living, and their use of curbs and other public spaces.
The newest iterations of this form of labor have been little explored, and are therefore not fully understood, even as New York lawmakers race to legislate on the topic and develop a regulatory environment that, for better or worse, will shape the industry for years to come.
The Gig Economy Project will fill a very significant gap in the legal services, research, and guidance needed by both small businesses and the gig workers they rely upon, as well lawmakers, administrative agencies, and other stakeholders. The Project will also be a space for evaluation and study of gig policy and practice, by both the law school community and the wider New York political and academic spheres.
The Project will initially be led by Mark Chiusano, NYLS Senior Fellow and author of Gigging Alone, a forthcoming book about the gig economy, along with Professor Jae Hyung Ryu, Director of the Plumeri Center, in coordination with Ben Max, Executive Editor and Program Director, and staff at the Center for New York City and State Law. The initiative will closely collaborate with the existing clinics within the Plumeri Center dedicated to the small business community including the Nonprofit and Small Business Clinic, the Patent Law Clinic, the Trademark Law Clinic, and the Veterans Justice Clinic. The Project will partner on publications and programs with leading policymakers through its close work with NYLS’s Center for New York City and State Law, as well as the Innovation Center for Law and Technology, and the Wilf Impact Center for Public Interest Law. It will also collaborate with Professor Anne Goldstein, Director of NYLS’s Labor and Employment Law Project aswell as the NYLS Employment and Labor Law Student Association in developing programs, publications, and advocacy strategies.
“The Gig Economy Project exemplifies New York Law School’s deep commitment to using legal education and research to engage with the most urgent and transformative issues of our time,” said Anthony W. Crowell, NYLS Dean and President and Director of the Center for New York City and State Law.” The gig and small business economy touches nearly every corner of our city’s workforce and commercial life. Through the Plumeri Center, we are creating a space where students, scholars, policymakers, and industry leaders can work together to build a fairer, more innovative, and more sustainable future for New York.”
Gig Economy Project at the Plumeri Center Programs
The Gig Economy Project will help both small business owners and gig workers understand and navigate New York’s complex regulatory and policy environment as it relates to this growing and crucial field, as follows:
Gig Economy Legal Services and Experiential Learning
Faculty and students will engage practically with this growing and complex field. This may take the form of partnering with gig-adjacent nonprofits, which are currently the main voices for New York City gig workers. Services may include presentations to gig workers and small business owners about their legal rights and responsibilities, starting in Fall 2026.
Gig Economy Legal Explainer and Guidance Research and Repository
Students will create a repository of legal resources, explainers, and guides on crucial topics for gig workers and small businesses. Among others, this includes restaurants, grocers, and hardware stores that make heavy use of gig worker labor. Some of these online documents, which the Project will begin generating in Spring 2026, will center on topics such as e-bike batteries, bike licensing, and shared road use between for-hire vehicles, delivery workers, and logistics companies. They will be archived and promoted through the Plumeri Center and Center for New York City and State Law publications and serve as inspiration for pro bono projects.
Campus Programs
The Gig Economy Project will leverage the convening power of NYLS and the Plumeri Center to serve as a neutral forum where regulators and gig practitioners can discuss the benefits and challenges of some of the most contentious gig-related issues, from minimum wage laws to independent contractor definitions. The Project would also organize conferences, panel discussions, and guest speaker talks featuring members of the NYLS community, policymakers, business owners and workers directly impacted by the gig economy, and other experts. Today NYLS hosted the inaugural event for the Gig Economy Project—focusing on the future of NYC’s gig economy and featuring Comptroller Brad Lander, Small Business Services Commissioner Dynishal Gross, Council Member Shaun Abreu and representatives of gig labor and business.
Research Projects
New York City is already a testing ground for gig companies, due to its size, number of small businesses, diverse workforce, and market opportunities. The Gig Economy Project will conduct research independently, as well as with partner organizations, including data collection that will generate white papers to inform legislation and advocacy on best practices at the city, state, and federal level. Over time, the Gig Economy Project aims to become a leading voice in shaping equitable, innovation-friendly gig economy policy in New York and beyond.
“Gig workers keep small businesses moving—delivering products, connecting customers, and fueling local competitiveness—yet the regulatory ground beneath them is constantly shifting,” said Jae Hyung Ryu, NYLS Professor and Director of the Plumeri Center for Small Business Empowerment and the Nonprofit and Small Business Clinic. “With this project, we’re taking the first step toward creating the guidance, expertise, and collaborative spaces needed to build a fair and future-ready gig economy.”
“App-based gig work is reshaping the New York economy and shifting daily life for workers, consumers, and small businesses,” said Mark Chiusano, NYLS Senior Fellow and author of Gigging Alone, a forthcoming book about the gig economy. “I’m excited to help bring the law school’s research capabilities and expertise to bear on this crucial field, in one of the world’s great capitals of gig labor.
About NYLS and the Plumeri Center for Small Business Empowerment
Founded in 1891, New York Law School (NYLS) is an independent law school located in Tribeca, the heart of New York City’s legal, government, financial, and emerging tech centers. Known as “New York’s law school,” NYLS embraces the city as its classroom by complementing a rigorous legal education with an innovative and diverse set of “uniquely New York” experiential learning opportunities. Since opening its doors, NYLS has produced graduates who have gone on to hold high elected and appointed offices in the city, lead large and small firms, and gain broad recognition as captains of business and industry. Its renowned faculty of prolific scholars has built the school’s strength in key areas of the law, including business and financial services, intellectual property and privacy, and government and public interest law. NYLS has more than 20,000 graduates and currently enrolls 1,100 students in its full-time and part-time J.D. programs.
The Plumeri Center for Small Business Empowerment was established from a highly generous foundational gift from global business leader and philanthropist Joseph J. Plumeri (H ’15), The Plumeri Center provides substantial and meaningful legal and business assistance to strengthen New York’s small business and innovator/entrepreneur community through the power and breadth of the Law School’s clinics, faculty, students, alumni, and civic profile.