Jedediah Mannis

Attorney and Member of common cathedral

I am a lawyer. I offer free legal services to homeless people who attend the Rev. Deborah Little's outdoor church, Common Cathedral, on the Boston Common on Sundays.

Homeless people have all sorts of legal problems, often more than one at a time. These can include improper rejections of applications for public and other kinds of housing, denial of federal and state disability and other benefits, arrests for trespassing, loitering and other misdemeanors that happen just by being out on the street and more serious charges, like drug dealing. However, unless there is the possibility of collecting a lot of money - like an award of damages after being hit by a car - homeless people must depend on free legal service agencies.

This shouldn't be an issue. There are many free, excellent legal programs that serve homeless people. Some have many attorneys, like Greater Boston Legal Services and some are small and specialized, Although most are in Boston, there are public agencies all over Massachusetts. They deal with problems ranging from SSI and SSDI denials, evictions, contested divorces and child support to domestic violence. Some - like Shelter Legal Services - make a special effort to be accessible to homeless people by doing intake at specified times through clinics at Rosie's Place, the New England Shelter for Homeless Veterans and other places that provide meals and shelter to homeless people. These agencies are staffed with bright, competent, dedicated lawyers who work long hours for a fraction of what they could earn in private practice; they do a wonderful job.

Then why don't most homeless people get help from lawyers? A big part of it is that homeless people and lawyers are rarely in the same place at the same time. Most lawyers - even public service lawyers - work in offices and expect clients, homeless ones included, to come to them for interviews, conferences and other help. They are rarely out on the street, looking for homeless clients. It's understandable. It's hard for lawyers who are already spending long hours at less than market pay to volunteer their time to do more. They have to worry about efficiency: is their time, which is limited, best spent wandering the street? On the other hand, homeless people have trouble finding their way to lawyers' offices. They sometimes have trouble keeping appointments. They don't always live in place with private telephones, and they're rarely in a position to take messages or return calls. They don't have safe, convenient places to store important papers. They worry about how they will smell if they go indoors. They don't trust the "system" and they don't trust lawyers who are part of it. And, many times, they're just too ill or confused to make any sense of available legal services.

I try to overcome this by spending time outdoors after services on Sunday at Common Cathedral, and during the week as well, listening to homeless people describe their legal problems. I listen as carefully as possible. Because many homeless people believe, with good reason, that no one pays attention to them, I - as best I can - try to listen as long as someone wants to talk. Sometimes I handle the matter myself. Sometimes it's not a legal problem at all, and Debbie's pastoral care group or a nurse or social worker will help out. Most often, I try to bring together the homeless person and an attorney with experience in the area of the client's difficulty, sometimes by meeting with the lawyer and the homeless person out on the Common, sometimes through referrals - whatever puts the homeless person most at ease.

Basically, I'm a connection between the street and the world of public service attorneys. It doesn't always look like what lawyers do - but it's one of the best ways I know to make sure that homeless people get the high level of public service legal help they need and deserve.

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