Two Months at AVLF Makes a Difference

By: Raman Rajagopal

            A few months back, I realized I would have two free months before the start of a new job in the consulting sector.  Having been to law school and practiced as an attorney (albeit corporate law, but I am told it still counts), I decided to dedicate some time toward the field of public interest.  Fortunately for me, the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyer Foundation (“AVLF”) welcomed me on board as a two-month volunteer attorney.

            The position would be my first job in the non-profit world.  After I graduated from law school, I practiced law for less than a year and then worked in finance for the past few years.  From finance, I moved into management consulting.  Have spent several years in the private sector, I was hopeful that the position with AVLF would give me a deeper understanding of the types of circumstances I previously only superficially read about in the newspaper.

Most of my work revolved around landlord-tenant issues that arose from cases referred to AVLF’s Saturday Lawyer Program.  In one of my cases, a ninety-year old man with symptoms of dementia came to the Saturday clinic hoping for help.  He had been living in a subsidized housing unit for years that was swarming with bed bugs.  He was sick and elderly---he had tried his best to find a solution but found himself sitting in my office holding back tears as he revealed that he could barely eat because the bugs were everywhere, including the fridge.

            In another case, a landlord made the decision she no longer wanted to have a tenant living there.  Her solution?  Forget the legally-required eviction process and just turn off the water and power and hoped the client would leave. 

            And last week there was a landlord who improperly withheld our client’s security deposit.  The client had not caused damage to the property or done anything else to justify the landlord’s conduct.  The property had changed owners during the tenant’s lease, and even after the tenant showed the landlord that she paid security deposit, the landlord would not return it to her.

            The pattern?  In many of my AVLF cases the landlords had learned that the people on the other side are deeply marginalized without the resources to defend themselves or fight for what is rightfully theirs.  My clients were routinely denied services that are legally required.  There are illegal evictions, improperly withheld security deposits and refusals to repair broken water pipes that result in $1000+ water bills to the client.  Fortunately for the landlords on the other side of my AVLF cases, there is often little consequence for their behavior.  Fines and penalties are unusual and infrequent in our system.  And unfortunately for most of these clients, wrongs are often left uncorrected for many of those who are not fortunate to have services like AVLF’s.

            I have been blessed to avoid many of the struggles that most of our clients face.  In the news, you hear a lot of discussion of the word “entitled” and “entitlements”---likely referring to those who receive subsidized housing and services like many of my AVLF clients.  Stepping back, entitled is not a word I would ever to use for my clients.  Grateful is the word instead - or perhaps appreciative.  My clients at AVLF have grateful for the legal help most of us would demand, expect and take for granted.

            The recession hit the whole country hard.  The working poor of Atlanta are no exception.  And in case you were curious about those cases I mentioned---the elderly man with dementia got moved to a different bed-bug free unit, the second client had her water and power turned on after a few calls, and the final client received her security deposit back in full.  Programs like AVLF are critical to balancing the paradigm of power in our city.