Christian Legal Aid Clinic
Saturday, October 28, 2006
I’m at the Christian Legal Aid of Los Angeles clinic right now, prepping to meet my client of the afternoon. There’s a wireless connection here. There are about 10 attorneys sitting in the upstairs conference room of Catholic Charities, listening to the resident expert give us his analysis of our clients’ cases. I’m relieved for that, since I’m not feeling too confident about advising my client about three strikes law and rent-controlled housing. Plus, I’m going to have a couple other attorneys with me to advise the client, so I won’t be alone.
We just finished with our first client, a black man who is having trouble with his local storage area. He and his wife go to their storage unit every couple days to get clothing and other necessities. One of the new employees appears to be harassing him.
Things were going fine for about 30-40 minutes. The resident expert took the lead and started questioning him about his situation and started to give some legal advice. The client said he stopped taking his psych medications and said in a scary tone, “I don’t even wanna tell you what I’m thinking of doing.” After he wouldn’t be convinced to move to another storage unit, we told him given that he hasn’t been taking his medications, the worst case scenario is that he could get arrested for violence.
He suddenly became aggressive and said “I never said anything about violence. You’re putting words in my mouth and accusing me of making terrorist threats. I’m done.” He accused us of being racially prejudiced and left despite our attempts to placate him, apologize, and tell him we’re just trying to help. As he burst out of the room, he called for his wife to leave with him, saying the clinic was a “set up.” She was being counseled other lawyers, and had been more forthcoming – they aren’t living at a motel, but living at the storage area, which is not allowed. Unfortunately, they have no legal remedy.
I was disturbed that he suddenly left like that – I’ve never had a client walk out on me like that. We probably should have started by telling him this is a Christian legal clinic, and we’re Christians, and ask permission to pray for him. We’re going to take this approach with the next client.
The second client meeting went much better. She has been homeless for 11 years and sleeps on trains and buses, and uses public restrooms for her personal hygiene. I can’t imagine living like that, but she had an unusually cheerful attitude, almost like contentment. It turns out she is a Christian, and appreciated us praying for her very much.
She had a myriad of problems – homelessness (obviously), unemployment, debt, hydrocephalus, and being discriminated at a certain McDonald’s restaurant where she goes to redeem meal vouchers from a church. They would give her and other homeless people food, but not let them eat in the restaurant or use the restroom. It sounds like they don’t want homeless people who don’t smell or look the nicest being around the other customers.
Well, this is a violation of the Unruh Civil Rights Act, a California law that says:
All persons within the jurisdiction of this state are free and equal, and no matter what their sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, medical condition, marital status, or sexual orientation are entitled to the full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, privileges, or services in all business establishments of every kind whatsoever.
The protection of this law is not restricted to only the classes listed – any time you’re discriminated against on the basis of a personal characteristic – homelessness, for example – you’re covered. It applies to hotels, restaurants, theaters, hospitals, barber and beauty shops, public agencies, nonprofits, and retail establishments. So if I go to the Ritz Carlton looking like I do when I roll out of bed, they have to treat me the same as they would treat the President.
Our client had tried to exercise her rights and wrote McDonald’s an email from a computer at the public library complaining about the treatment. Nothing was done to remedy the situation. In fact, the next time she went to redeem her voucher, she was denied.
So, we wrote a letter to McDonald’s using their Contact Us form informing them about our client’s situation and advising them that this particular McDonald’s is violating the Unruh Act, which provides for money damages. The veteran attorney also submitted his contact information to show how serious we were. We printed a copy of the letter for the client and she went away happy. Were her life problems solved? No. Did she have a court judgment in her hand absolving her from debt? No. But she left knowing that someone cared enough to do something tangible on her behalf and stand up for her.
It’s amazing how much more respect you get when you tell people you’re an attorney. Things, even simple things like clearing up a mix-up so someone can get their government benefits, just get done when there is a lawyer on the phone.
I’ll admit that most of the time we counseled the clients, I sat back and listened to the veteran talk and ask questions. He was very polished and capable. I was nervous about advising anyone without someone more experienced by my side. Anytime I need to lead an interaction like that with a stranger, or even lead a discussion or study with people I know, I get nervous and afraid of awkward silences, sounding stupid or making mistakes.
But I need to remember that I worked really hard for my law degree and to pass the bar, and as an attorney I know what people’s rights are, and am in an ideal position to help the poor and disadvantaged. I will keep going to this clinic to volunteer until I get over my fear. I know that’s what God wants me to do.