Erica Taylor is many things: an aunt, a lawyer, a fighter. But her newest title is the one we are most excited about. She will soon become our Safe & Stable Homes Project Staff Attorney, taking over AVLF’s flagship program, the Saturday Lawyer Program.
Graduating from Mercer University School of Law in 2014, she has accomplished a lot since passing the bar. Working as a Discrimination Claims Investigator for both the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Education during law school, she went on to intern with the Georgia Legal Services Program in Macon, Georgia. Although she has worked in private practice since law school graduation, she has remained one of AVLF’s star volunteer attorneys.
How did you learn about AVLF?
I learned about AVLF from one of my old law professors. I had actually graduated by then, and I ran into her at an Atlanta Bar event after lunch. I was talking about how I really wanted to do some pro bono, and go ahead and get involved. I tried reaching out to a few different organizations but hadn’t really gotten anywhere. She told me I should check out the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation. She gave me the contact information, and it was almost immediate that I began. Cole responded back to me, signed me up to work some Saturdays. I started attending, and I loved it.
What made you want to begin volunteering and taking on pro bono cases in the first place?
I was always interested in public interest and in pro bono work. I knew that as soon as I got my bar license, I wanted to immediately start taking pro bono cases. I wanted to get out there, and make it work. I’d already done pro bono stuff before I even graduated. I interned at Georgia Legal Services in Macon during law school.
Where do you think that drive comes from, the drive to do pro bono from the very beginning?
Honestly, I think I was born that way. I’ve just always wanted to help people. Since I was 7 I wanted to be an attorney, and I had this idea of attorney as helpers since then. It’s part of my DNA. It’s part of the way my parents raised me. They raised me to care about people, and they raised me to want to help people.
You’ve volunteered with AVLF a lot in the past. Tell me about your experience with us. What made you want to keep coming back?
First, I just really enjoyed the experience. I had an interview with this lady, and she was in this terrible situation with her black mold. It was making her kids sick. There were rats. There were cockroaches. I felt so much more her. Her name was also Erica, so there was even more of a personal connection there. Realizing that I could help her was so exciting for me.
It was wonderful how AVLF was so supportive with getting me any resources I needed to help her. I think that’s great that those tools are available, to young lawyers especially. AVLF is there for young lawyers with whatever they need.
What are you most excited about for your new position as head of the Saturday Lawyer Program?
Honestly, I’m just really excited about being able to help constantly. To feel good about all of the help I’m able to give, all of the clients I’m able to assist. I’m excited about all of the attorneys I’ll be able to give that feeling too, the wonderful feeling of helping someone in need. I’m excited about getting to do that non-stop without having to worry about billing somebody.
What is the greatest skill or quality you think you’ll bring to the position?
I have a very methodical nature. I’m very organized, it’s just how my brain works. I’ve done volunteer management before. I think that’s a great skill that I bring. And not to brag or anything, but I have a wonderful personality!
In all seriousness, I think the passion I bring to the job will be my greatest gift.
Up to this point, what do you think has been your greatest professional achievement?
I’ve loved a lot of the cases I’ve worked on with AVLF, and I’ve gotten a lot of positive results for them. But as a private attorney, my greatest win was a with a woman who was being sexually harassed. She really wanted the company to change, to start listening to their female employees when they reported abuse. That was what she wanted from her representation—And that’s what we were able to get her. That was wonderful.
Why do you think the Saturday Lawyer Program is important to the community?
I think it’s important for the greater community to see lawyers in a different light. So often, when the general public thinks about lawyers, they think about lying, conniving, stealing—that terrible stereotype that lawyers get all the time. So it’s great that people get to see attorneys in a helpful light.
It’s also great to give attorneys the opportunity to come and do this work, and to be able to give back. It’s really frustrating sometimes to be an attorney. You’re always dealing with minutiae, and you don’t really get to see the positive results you’re creating. It’s important for attorneys to see the good that their work creates. The good they actually do.
Erica Taylor will be joining AVLF’s staff starting June 15.