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Getting Help from Legal Aid Services
A legal aid service can really rescue you when you are in the most dire of needs, destitute with no where else to turn to. I have been working for legal aid services of Oregon for seven years now, So of all people I should really know the best what I'm talking about here. It is no joke. In this country, if you do not have money, you do not have rights. It is as simple as that, no matter what the free market apologists might say. Without legal aid services, the poor would have no where to turn to when they get in to legal trouble. There is free criminal representation provided, of course, but it is often third rate at best. And what about civil legal representation? If the bank is foreclosing on your house, the state is not going to provide you with anyone to go and speak your case in court. Without legal aid services, a disaster like that can break someone, and that is no joke.
Before I started working for legal aid services of Oregon, I was a corporate lawyer, so I have seen both sides of things. I actually worked for a large rental agency, and often helped them evict clients so that they could redevelop their properties to charge even higher rates of rent. I am not proud of those days, or what I did working for the devil, as it were, but my life changed when I joined legal aid services of Oregon. I could look in the mirror again, doing what all of us secretly believe is the best thing of all: fighting for the little guy.
I'm not saying that there should be no legal representation for the rich. Far from it. Everyone deserves representation, but it does seem unfair the way that it is set up currently. The poor, if they can not find a legal aid service, are completely out of luck. Even when they can come by legal aid services, they are stuck with a group of lawyers with limited resources when compared with the big legal bully boys out there. They definitely do have a chance, but it is far from an even playing field. Until all people are guaranteed equal legal representation this country will continue to be a place of rank injustice. But until that day comes, I will continue to work in legal aid services, doing my part to help those who need it most.
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