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     | Tuesday, June 27, 2000 - 03:33 pm  I just wanted to share my experience with a volunteer lawyers service that I came across at: http://www.consumer.findlaw.com/lawyers/clinics/index.html I was served with a summons from a bank through a collection attorney. I almost fainted when I found the summons on my radiator inside my hallway of my apartment. It wasn't in an envelope or anything, not even folded in three's, just 4 pages of 8 x 11 1/2 paper. The lawyer's service must have just drove by my house and sandwiched it between my mail, because my landlord laid it out nice and neat for me!! "Oh God", I said to my-self. I had to collect myself and went to my landlord to explain what this meant. I was so worried that she would think she had deadbeats living in her house. She said to me how she thought the papers were for her, until she got a closer look to read the heading and she was happy that they weren't for her and told me that in her 85 years, she had been there before and not to worry, but I should have a lawyer look over them. I wasn't sure where to start looking for a lawyer, most of the ads I saw said "Free Consultation" but not for my situation. It is not that I was trying to be cheap, I would pay good money to a lawyer if they could help me. I just needed some phone advice to see if I needed representation and if the lawyer thought I should come in. I called one of the volunteer lawyers services and asked if they could recommend a good lawyer for my problem, though they couldn't help me personally (represent me) they told me to fax over the summons and they would look at it. The lawyer called me back in 30 minutes and told me he had prepared some sample documents, an answer, a verification and an affidavit of service by mail. He told me that I could retype the forms (use a T600 Answer from Blumberg) and fax them back to him when I had finished preparing them. I did and he made two minor corrections and told me everything is in order, I went to answer the summons on 06/19/00 and everything was fine. That same day, I called him back and he told me to either fax and/or mail the copies of all the documents to the plaintiff, because the collection attorneys would probably not notify the bank that I wanted to settle for the charged off amount, which was less than what I was summoned for. I did and the plaintiff contacted the collection attorney and the attorney called me and said "Our client has agreed to your settlement". I called the attorney back to thank him and offered to pay him his normal fee or donate some money or time for his help and he told he was happy to help me and was glad it had been simple for me. I know these services are are geared toward domestic violence, criminal cases, immigration, tenant/landlord, etc and I am so grateful to this service because I was really scared and they helped me. I do not know if pro bono service are for everyone with credit card issues or tax liens, but they will answer some questions for you and gear you in the right direction. I know when I am ready to buy my home, I will definitely look this lawyer up and hire him at his regular fee. Rosemarie
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| | Tuesday, June 27, 2000 - 09:02 pm Wow, that's quite amazing. I hadn't seen that part of findlaw when I was there last week. I'll definitely have to check this out! Thanks much for posting your experiences.
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