'Get me what I am entitled to or I will do it myself': Law school stops representing tenant who demands 2 free months of rent, flips out on 'totally useless' volunteer legal rep

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Sep 10, 2023 3:00 PM EDT

This choosing beggar finally got what she asked for. 

As a student, u/Zelmung got some real-world experience at their law school's student program. The OP shares that the service offered people free legal advice, while the student volunteers helped guide their clients through the process. That is a win-win — people in need can find resources, and students can gain insight into the logistics of a case. 

But as the OP found out, you can't pick your clients. They need help, and they come to the law service expecting results. Nevermind that they're not actually paying for the service… they still their problems solved easily and as fast as possible. 

The woman in this story was panicking over her landlord wanting to evict her. It's devastating to lose your home, but even with extra time to find a new living space, this woman decided to flip out on her student volunteer at the law school. The OP notes that she was also calling constantly while not really following any of the advice she was given. You can give people resources, but you can't make them take action if they don't want to. 

Up next, this dude's job never let him take holidays off, so he saved up for decades, earning himself a jaw-dropping 7,200 hours of PTO. 

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  • 01
    Font - Do your job and get me what I am entitled do! L I was inspired by another earlier post by someone who worked in an organization that provided free legal advice.
    via u/Zelmung
  • 02
    Font - My law school offers a free legal advice and representation service to low-income earners in the city. We, the students, volunteer in this service and help people with their cases. Most of our cases are related to contracts, employment, tenancy, wills, or petty crime, and we are limited by our mandate to not provide support for anything too intensive (eg. jail time possibility, divorce, automobile accidents etc...). Anything we send
    via u/Zelmung
  • 03
    Font - out to clients or third-parties must go through our supervising lawyers (SL). Also keep in mind most of the students, including me, are volunteers going through full-time law school and have jobs outside of the classroom, so working on the files usually take a bit of time.
    via u/Zelmung
  • 04
    Font - One of my clients, M, came in with what seemed like a simple case. She told me that she was being evicted by her landlord without being provided sufficient notice, and as such wanted to get compensated. A week goes by and I got working on her file, doing research on our local residential tenancy statutes and calling her a few times to iron out the details.
    via u/Zelmung
  • 05
    Font - The landlord had given the tenant notice in Nov 2017 (on a hand- written slip of paper, which technically isn't the proper way to serve notice) about the fact that the unit is needed for a family member to move in by Feb 1st. At this point, it was already mid- January and getting close to the move-out date of Jan 31st.
    via u/Zelmung
  • 06
    Font - Our local statutes provided that landlords must give 2 months notice in the proper form prior to terminating the rental for occupation, as well as 1 month free rent to the tenant. So I get on the phone with M and tell her that she can either "refuse the notice" and continue the tenancy since it wasn't served properly, or she can move out and we'll get her 1 month free rent for her.
    via u/Zelmung
  • 07
    Font - At this point she completely changes her tone and demands that we ask for 2 months of free rent (apparently it takes her that long to find a new place), get her damage deposit back before moving out, and have the landlord pay for her moving fees. I told her that's basically not possible since she's not entitled to that by law, and she starts flipping out at me over the phone telling me how her landlord is a crazy person and we are totally useless if we can't claim "what is fair" for her.
    via u/Zelmung
  • 08
    Font - So tell her I need to meet with the SL next week to discuss the situation. The SL essentially tells me that my assessment is accurate and that we can't make claims that run counter to the law (pretty obvious). Before I could call her in the afternoon, she calls me through our switchboard (routed through to me, it turns out she called like 4 times that day), and
    via u/Zelmung
  • 09
    Font - tells me she is freaking out because her landlord served a 10- day eviction notice on her door. The eviction notice was for failure to pay rent for January, which is a valid and totally separate eviction claim. M never told me she withheld rent for January.
    via u/Zelmung
  • 10
    Font - At this point we were basically 3 days away from Jan 31st. Due to this new notice, we can no longer argue the tenancy was still in effect since she would still get kicked for nonpayment. The only remedy was to argue that the one month of rent was withheld because M had expected to move out by the end of January. So I tell M she needs to get out of there by Jan 31st if she wants to protect herself, and we'll help her communicate with the landlord and ask for the January withholding to be i
    via u/Zelmung
  • 11
    Font - Lo and behold, February rolls around and she was still occupying the unit into the first week of the month. So the landlord filed a second eviction notice for failure to pay rent for February. She is now 2 months behind rent and is facing two valid eviction notices one of which is coming up in 3-4 days, so she's pretty screwed. If she is evicted due to non-payment, she will get absolutely nothing, not even the 1 month free rent. The best course of action is that she needs to pay her Janua
    via u/Zelmung
  • 12
    Font - I get onto the phone with her again to tell her that she needs to pay a month of rent. She begins to shout at me over the phone and essentially tells me I'm crazy and incompetent and am in a consp acy to side with the landlord. She says she absolutely refuses to pay a cent to the landlord and that she deserved 2 month rent and deposit returned immediately and moving fees covered. She said (and I quote) "I know the laws of the place, I can read too you know! Obviously you guys don't want t
    via u/Zelmung
  • 13
    Font - I said "Okay ma'am, I've already told you what you're entitled to, and you don't want it. So I'm going to do my job, which is to follow the law." I hung up and had a quick 5 minute chat with the SL, he backed me and said that he gets at least one or two of these types of people each year, and told me to draft a letter to M and close the file.
    via u/Zelmung
  • 14
    Font - So I drafted a short and sweet letter and basically told her "Following your instructions, we're ceasing to provide any further representation. Our organization is mandated to comply with the law, and upon being informed of this you've elected for self- representation. Good luck on your legal issue." SL approved within minutes and had it sent out.
    via u/Zelmung
  • 15
    Font - About a week later I receive an email from M, it's filled with expletive insults and one sentence that reads:
    via u/Zelmung
  • 16
    Font - "You and everyone at your organization are useless and will never be good lawyers, I thought you all smart but tell your SL and worthless friends that they are better off planting potato because all of you can only be potato farmers."
    via u/Zelmung
  • 17
    Font - I had a good chuckle in class and never heard from her again. PS: No Potato Farmers were hurt in the telling of this experience. PPS: **Typo in title not intentional > cannot correct > oh well**
    via u/Zelmung
  • 18
    Font - mastrofpenguins She knows the law. She's the best at it. Just superb. The courts should investigate the landlord, clearly she's done nothing wrong. And you would know that, because SHE TOLD YOU SO.
    via u/
  • 19
    Font - CaspianX2 you can only be potato farmers Is this a common insult? Because I have never heard this before and it seems completely random.
    via u/
  • 20
    Font - drapehsnormak Will you confirm under oath that no potato farmers were hurt? 11 Reply Share Zelmung OP It's the truth. Down with the tater haters.
    via u/drapehsnormak
  • 21
    Font - damageddude tells me I'm crazy and incompetent and am in a consp "acy to side with the landlord. She says she absolutely refuses to pay a cent to the landlord and that she deserved 2 month rent and deposit returned immediately and moving fees covered. This is why my wife's landlord/tenant practice became mostly landlord. Some of those tenants could sure tell some whoppers.
    via u/damageddude
  • 22
    Eye - SundreBragant This is one of those r/Choosing Beggars
    via u/SundreBragant
  • 23
    Font - DarkNymphetamine. Well, at least--for the moment--she is not your problem.
    via u/DarkNymphetamine
  • 24
    Table - 11
    via Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash

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law school landlord housing Legal Woes rental job malicious compliance legal tenant client landlords case workplace volunteer home law choosing beggar
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