First Day

Today was my first day at legal aid.  I met Ralph Saltus, who is the intake volunteer director.  Ralph has held his position for forty three years!  He has seen a lot of different cases and people coming in for help.  Since it was my first day I was assigned to shadow another volunteer, Luke.  As an intake volunteer, we are required to meet each client warmly with a handshake.  Each volunteer takes his or her client to a private room and closes the door for privacy.  We tell the clients we are volunteers and that the information they tell us is confidential between the volunteer and the supervisor.  After introductions, we tell the client we will be asking them about financial information for eligibility purposes (in order to qualify for legal aid services there are maximum amounts of income allowed for certain size families).  Next, the volunteer discusses what problem brings the client to legal aid.  Once the volunteer feels he or she has gathered sufficient information, the volunteer steps out of the room and brings the sheet of paper with the information to Ralph.  We relay the information to Ralph and he advises what we should do for the client (i.e. set the client up with a volunteer attorney, send them to divorce class, refer them to the modest means program, etc).  At legal aid I had the opportunity to experience all sorts of issues (except for criminal issues- Legal Aid does not help with these).  On my first day I did not see any heart breaking cases.  That would come later.