Posted August 5, 202210:05 am
Legal Aid paralegals are highly skilled, knowledgeable, and flexible. The demands of this fast-paced role at Legal Aid include calling clients, conducting research, drafting documents, maintaining files, and more. To learn more, we checked in with the paralegals in Legal Aid’s Housing Practice Group:
What is the most rewarding part of your job?
Anna Kallmeyer: Fighting (and oftentimes, succeeding) to keep clients and their children in their homes. Losing your home—whether you rent or own—is a deeply unsettling, traumatic, and destabilizing event. A home is the foundation to everything else in life. To play just a small part in sustaining that foundation (like scheduling a client meeting or helping an attorney draft a motion) is incredibly rewarding.
Can you describe a case that really stands out to you as having a big impact on a client?
Anna Seballos: Being able to set up a presentation at a HUD (federally subsidized) apartment, with two interpreters and having over 20 tenants show up was a huge highlight for me! It’s great getting to see tenants become empowered.
What is your favorite thing about working at Legal Aid?
Anne Schleicher: I love my colleagues! Brilliant, and dedicated to our cause. I also love our clients.
Who inspires you?
Anthony Perrins: As an aspiring attorney, I am particularly inspired by those who have used the practice of law to fight injustice and inequality. Two individuals that stand out to me are Nelson Mandela and William Kunstler. I hope to live up to the examples they set during the fight against apartheid in South Africa and the fight for civil rights here in the United States.
What drew you to a career in the legal profession/ public service?
Donnell Collins: What drew me to this career is my love to assist people. I have always wanted to be a lawyer and I believe that everyone should have the ability to see their dreams come true if they are willing to put in the work. I believe that this work makes people feel like they matter.
Emily Spinelli: I was a psychology major who also took many criminal justice classes. It opened my eyes to the amount of research coming out that isn’t being applied in the real world. In my career, I really want to help bridge the gap between science and legal practitioners.
Tyra Washington: I’ve always had the desire to help people and give back to my community. Legal Aid does a great job at providing services and resources to people in need. That’s what drew me to a career in the legal profession/ public service, specifically, Legal Aid.
Paige Nofel Kuri: With a background in policy work, I was drawn to Legal Aid because I wanted the opportunity to affect real, positive change in my community. It is rewarding to me to see that the work I am doing helps families stay in their home, and/or obtain affordable, stable, safe housing.
This article was published in Legal Aid's "Poetic Justice" newsletter, Volume 19 Issue 2 in August 2022. See full issue at this link: “Poetic Justice” Volume 19 Issue 2.