Testimonials

Posted March 14, 2006

WHAT A RESOURCE!
By: David Patterson, Esq.

I’m on my way to the Civil Court’s Resource Center, which is located on the first floor at 111 Centre Street. On my way in, in the waiting area, I notice a woman sitting down and crying. I proceed inside and say hello to Faith and Louise, the two full-time Court Attorneys who work in the Resource Center and Zelda, the reception person. (Note: All names are fictional, except mine.)

“Do you know there’s a woman outside crying?” I ask. Faith says, "She’s scared stiff of losing her apartment. We’re helping her, but she wanted to have a couple of minutes alone, to compose herself.”

Louise says, “Oh, DP (my initials), we can also have you talk to her because she has some non-housing issues we can’t answer. Perhaps, since you are a general practitioner, you can give her additional information.”

Faith adds, “She lives in an apartment with her boyfriend, who moved in about two months ago. It’s her apartment, and she has lived there for around three years. Only her name is on the lease. Yesterday, her boyfriend hit her. She wants him to leave the apartment, but he refuses to go. We gave her the forms for the required predicate notice, notice of petition and petition, in case she decides to start a proceeding to evict him.”

I thought to myself that I knew exactly what this “predicate notice” stuff was all about, because the Volunteer Lawyer’s Project staff provided us with in-person training, and comprehensive, easily understandable, and extensive written materials during the 9-hour training in Fundamentals in Landlord-Tenant Law.

Incredibly, while we were being taught the skills to become knowledgeable in the landlord-tenant area, we also received CLE credit for the training courses we took. I remember thinking to myself that this is such a good deal. I was really surprised that more people don’t take advantage of it.

What is just as helpful, by the way, is that after undergoing the prerequisite training, Faith and Louise supervise us volunteers when we see people who come into the Resource Center asking for help, and, in effect, help train us to competently and appropriately handle their questions. Only after I had acquired enough experience was I left on my own. Even now whenever I have a question, Faith and Louise are right there to answer it.

The woman who was crying, whose named turned out to be “Sarah,” came back into the Resource Center. Louise asked me if I wanted to see if I could provide additional assistance to Sarah, and I went to speak to her.

After talking to Sarah, I learned that, sadly, this was not the first time her boyfriend had assaulted her. The good news was that she had finally decided to do something about it. As I also practice in the criminal law area, I knew enough to be able to inform Sarah that she could go to the local precinct and make a complaint against the boyfriend, whose name happened to be “Punk Kid.”

If the police believed a crime had been committed, they would arrest Punk Kid. When he went before a judge, that judge would probably issue an order of protection. This order could bar the boyfriend from coming anywhere near Sarah or her apartment. I also provided Sarah with the numbers of a couple of agencies that provide services to battered women.

Sarah also stated that she got behind on her rent, because Punk Kid had never contributed any money towards the household and rent. Faith gave Sarah a list of various charities that provide money to pay back rent under certain circumstances. Louise noted that the listed charities might well be sympathetic to a case like Sarah’s and also provided her with information about how to get similar financial assistance from New York City’s Department of Social Services. As long as Sarah could show she could pay her rent prospectively, these agencies might well be able to help her.

As Sarah left, she said, to no one in particular, “Thank you so much. You guys are my angels. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t been here.”

It was getting to be the end of the day and time to go home. Louise, Faith, Zelda and I looked at each other, knowing full well that we had done some good today.

I find that providing legal counseling is an enjoyable experience because 1) you get a chance to relate to “real people with real problems” 2) you REALLY get to utilize your legal skills and training, by identifying the critical legal issues among the mish-mosh of emotions and details provided by the person seeking assistance 3) you get the chance to REALLY help people, in a way we thought we might when we first decided to go to law school; 4) you get to enjoy a unique feeling of satisfaction, particularly when you see that sense of desperation slowly draining from someone’s face, only to be replaced by the recognition and hope that her problems really can be successfully addressed; and, perhaps most importantly, 5) unlike your regular clients, Resource Center clients won’t call you twenty times in the next week seeking a different answer to the very same question, because, once you see them at the Resource Center, your work with them is complete.

For the more practical among us, volunteering at the Resource Center also provides participants with additional perks, including 1) having the opportunity to network with Court Attorneys and other volunteers; 2) getting training in the Landlord-Tenant Law area; 3) receiving excellent written materials, as well as in-person training; 4) having the opportunity to continue to learn, from full-time Court Attorneys, like Faith and Louise, with substantial expertise in this area of the law; and 5) even getting free CLE credits while you’re doing all this other good stuff.

So, what more can you ask for? I know you might have been thinking about doing pro bono work for awhile. Now, you have an ideal opportunity to translate these thoughts into action. So, join Housing Court’s Volunteer Lawyer’s Project Team, and help us have a good time while we’re providing a much needed service.

David J. Patterson
Volunteer Attorney