Jenny A. Mendelsohn, Special to the Daily Report (Reprinted with permission)
One recent Saturday morning, over black coffee in a paper cup, Ms. Crawford softly told me her story. A few months before, she was happily moving into her new Atlanta rental home with her fiancé and 6-year-old daughter. She dreamed of starting a new life with her small family and a second child who was on the way.
But her dream was never realized. When she moved into her new home, she discovered that it was full of mold, fleas and urine stains. Because of the mold, Ms. Crawford had multiple asthma attacks that made her pass out. She begged her landlord to make repairs. But instead of paying $3,000 for mold remediation, the landlord ordered Ms. Crawford to move out. She used her last thousand dollars to move her belongings out of the house and into storage. To make matters worse, her fiancé ended their relationship. Her options were dwindling.
After living on friends’ couches for a few weeks, the pregnant Ms. Crawford and her daughter moved into a homeless shelter. Her pregnancy was complicated and she had no child care for her daughter, so Ms. Crawford had to quit her job. She was stuck in the shelter for the foreseeable future.
That’s when Ms. Crawford reached out to the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation for help. At AVLF’s Saturday Lawyer Day, I agreed to represent Ms. Crawford pro bono.
I filed a lawsuit and quickly settled Ms. Crawford’s case for over $5,000. She received this compensation shortly after the birth of her second child, and used it to get back on her feet.
Through AVLF’s Saturday Lawyer Program, I’ve been able to help several people who, like Ms. Crawford, were in a tough spot. The hours I have spent on these cases have been some of the most meaningful hours of my legal career. In no other instance have a few hours of my work meant so much to my clients. Less than a full day of my time enabled Ms. Crawford to escape homelessness.
Ms. Crawford’s case touched me because I identified with her. She was about my age, and had drive like I had never seen. But for her encounter with her unscrupulous landlord, she and her family would have been settled in a stable home. One slumlord took that away from her when he refused to spend $3,000.
I am thankful that I met Ms. Crawford. Her case allowed me to hone my negotiation and drafting skills, and her story gave me much-needed perspective. Every time I have a bad day, I remember Ms. Crawford. Her case reminds me of the power of a law license: we have the power to change lives, if we look for the clients who need us the most.