Lawyers as Problem-Solvers

Michael Lucas

The YLD Review, Summer 2012, Vol. 53, Issue 4

By: Michael Lucas, Esq., AVLF Director of Housing and Consumer Program

At our best, lawyers are highly-skilled problem solvers.  We are fortunate to have some great law schools in Georgia – including right here in Atlanta – but no school can teach all the things that go into successfully solving real problems for  clients. 

At AVLF, problem solving is precisely what we and our low-income clients expect volunteers to do.  Thousands of people call AVLF every year with a problem, looking for help with landlord-tenant disputes, unpaid wages and debt disputes, among others.  Getting help with these problems is critical for those trying to pay bills, take care of a family and maintain a home. Through the Saturday Lawyer Program, volunteer attorneys spend Saturday mornings with me at the downtown office of the Atlanta Legal Aid Society to meet – and possibly take on – prescreened clients.  Instead of asking our volunteers simply to show up and receive cases, AVLF asks volunteer attorneys to partner with us from the outset in assessing the problem the client is facing and determining whether a case is a strong candidate for referral for full representation and whether they want to be– with our support –the lawyer and problem-solver on the case.

For our clients, the efficiency of our programs and the responsiveness of our volunteers is critical, as the problems can really start to add up if not addressed.  Even one missed paycheck can be the difference between a roof over their children’s heads and an eviction.  Overzealous and sometimes fraudulent debt-collectors can wreak havoc on the lives of seniors on fixed-incomes and other low-income individuals trying to get back on their feet.  Low-income tenants too often face illegal evictions, unlawful withholding of security deposits, or abhorrent conditions that go unaddressed by their landlords, all leading to extreme hardship for them and their families.  AVLF’s Saturday Lawyer Program provides volunteer attorneys to pursue these unpaid wage claims, defend individuals being pursued for debts they do not owe or by people they do not owe them too, and to help thousands of low-income tenants obtain justice in these types of landlord-tenant disputes.  The Saturday Lawyer Program is an incredible resource for low-income clients. 

And while it is the good feelings that come from helping someone in her or his time of need that motivates our volunteers to step up and keep coming back, the program has other direct benefits for our volunteers as well – especially for our younger volunteers.   AVLF is an excellent avenue for attorneys who are interested in learning new areas of law or for those who would like the opportunity to interview a client, practice other core lawyering skills, and potentially to appear in Court.  There is an opportunity to gain experience in nearly every aspect of the actual practice of law, all while being thoroughly supported by experienced attorneys and AVLF’s extensive litigation resources – from investigative resources and process servers, to pro bono mediators and assistance with judgment collection. 

But beyond experience drafting demand letters and Complaints and  – in some of our cases – discovery and even taking a case to trial, perhaps the most valuable skill set you have a chance to develop is one that is rarely taught in law school or even early in any lawyer’s career – if it can be taught at all.  With our cases, volunteers manage their own case – with support, from start to finish – and while working these cases, they get invaluable experience in problem solving.  They are responsible for helping their client navigate a crisis and come out on the other side as close to reaching their goals as possible.  This type of client service requires that young attorneys really learn to listen, develop and test their instincts, make judgment calls, develop and change their strategy as needed, discern the truth – from clients and opponents alike – and deal with all sorts of opposing counsel.  In formulating a plan of action and revisiting it throughout the representation as new facts develop, a good attorney must fully understand her client’s goals and be adept at calculating and articulating to her client the relative risks and benefits of any decision or action.  That is as true in any attorney-client relationship as it is with AVLF landlord-tenant disputes where just the initial decision of whether to pick that fight with one’s landlord is wrought with myriad calculations and hard decisions about whether to stay or leave, sue or try yet again to work cooperatively, risk eviction or not. 

Through these experiences a young attorney begins to develop “a gut” for the many assessments and judgment calls that being a real counselor and advocate – whether for a low-income tenant or Fortune 500 Company – requires.  Again, at our best and most evolved state, lawyers are problem solvers for our clients.  Many of our cases at AVLF aren’t so much about an application of law to facts – something many lawyers can do just fine  – but rather require truly discerning and understanding where our clients want to go from here – even when they may not be so sure themselves – and helping them make the right decisions to get there.  That is also what paying clients, corporate or otherwise, pay for.  That is what all clients need in their time of crisis, and to a large extent, this ultimately applies to transactional work – negotiating a contract or a merger or acquisition – just as much as it does to litigation, to negotiating the settlement of a personal injury claim just as much as it does to brokering a deal. 

The most important reason AVLF runs the programs we do – and the most important reason our amazing volunteers give so generously of their time and considerable expertise – is to help the single mothers whose landlords illegally withhold the security deposit, the hardworking truck driver or painter whose employer repeatedly treats paying wages due as optional, the shocking number of victims of illegal evictions who lose all of their family’s belongings, or the disabled senior whose slumlord gets her social security disability check sent to them in return for deplorable conditions and no repairs.  Every Saturday, our volunteers meet individuals with these types of issues and begin the process of problem solving and hopefully making the individual whole.  It is a powerful thing to watch.  But we know that we are also helping Atlanta attorneys develop, hone, and refine those skills that they don’t teach in law school but which are at the very heart of being an effective counselor and advocate.