Eavesdropping on Bar Talk
A Collection of True Case Stories from Legal Service Attorneys
by
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The need for this type of nonprofit organization and its mission became critically clear when state funding for legal service organizations was reduced for many such organizations throughout the United States. …
Thus, Tools For Justice, Inc. was officially formed. Its name came out of the work of its incorporator who, as a legal service attorney, used an analogy of a carpenter and his tools to help clients understand the role of an attorney. Basically, when a client would express a lack of understanding of how to use legal services, the attorney would explain that, in order to build a house, a carpenter needs tools, like a hammer. So, too, if the client wants to build a defense to an adverse action being taken against him or needs to build a case against someone harming him, the client needs the right tools. An attorney is the right tool to help a client build his case. The attorney is the hammer available to a client, who is the carpenter of his or her own case for seeking justice. …
To pursue our mission, we created the Book Project, our first educational fundraising effort. It involves publishing this book, a collection of true case stories that attorneys employed by legal service organizations submitted. These true case stories illustrate the kind of work these attorneys have done for the clients of their legal service organizations as told from the attorneys’ perspectives.
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About the Book
A female tenant is threatened with eviction if she refuses to have sex with the apartment manager. A senior citizen fears she’ll lose her home because of an agency’s failure to manage her disabled son’s money. Domestic violence victims are seeking to escape years of abuse. A mother overcomes a life of drugs for the love of her child. A man faces eviction because of an unscrupulous landlord and a bottle of Wite-out.
These are the true stories of people caught in unenviable situations, often through no fault of their own. Their circumstances prompted them to pursue legal assistance, but they couldn’t afford the legal fees of most attorneys. Fortunately, they had access to help through a nonprofit legal service organization.
Eavesdropping on Bar Talk gives you the opportunity to discover how legal service attorneys helped their clients overcome tough legal problems, as told by the attorneys involved in the individual cases. In addition to sharing their clients’ stories, the attorneys share a few stories of their own—including a story about making a court appearance wearing nothing but a towel!
About the Author
Brenda L. Rascher, Esq. has been a legal service attorney since 1992. She developed her ability to write in plain language, not legalese, by writing a weekly legal column for ten years. She is the founder of Tools For Justice, Inc., an organization whose mission is to raise awareness of the work being done by legal service organizations and to raise much needed funds to support this important work. As a board member, she donated her time to gathering, writing and editing this book as well as all rights to it in order to benefit Tools For Justice, Inc. and its mission. She currently lives in New Jersey.