People Who Come to Have Free Legal Advice

張貼日期：May 23, 2016 12:59:17 PM

Jane Tsao

When I was a sophomore, I joined PCCU law service center. After 2 years’ training, I went to Sangchong Mediation Committee to be a lawyer assistant every Tuesday afternoon. As soon as my partner and I arrived there, we had to start asking those who came for a legal service what kind of questions they were going to ask the lawyer. Some people would ask us for the answers, but we were required not to answer anything. Our work was to record the facts and the issues. Based on my observation, the inquiries can be classified into three types. They are questions about leases, divorces and car accidents.

The first type is questions about lease. Before I went to the Mediation Committee, I thought lease problems might be the common questions clients would ask. I was right. However, there is one thing I never thought before. When I studied lease contracts, I thought our laws protect lessees more than lessors. In fact, the cases I faced told me lessors need even more protections. For example, there are tenants who delay the rent. When the lessors ask the tenants to pay the rent, they ignore the lessors and do not pick up their call. I feel that some lessees are more infuriating than the lessors. However, based on the laws, if tenants do not owe 2 months’ rent, the lessors cannot terminate the lease contracts. What lessors can do is only appeal to court.

The second type is questions about divorce. Marriage is a sacred thing for me. I have never thought that the divorce rate is much higher than I imagine. Every week, there were women who came to ask about the procedures of divorce. In addition, they also asked about the children and alimony. There was one case which impressed me a lot. A young girl who looked three years younger than me came to the Mediation Committee with her grandma. She has a one-year-old baby boy. But she wanted to divorce because her husband treated her badly. Her husband threw her stuff out of their house and changed the lock. In addition, her mother-in-law only wanted the baby boy. I could not believe the tragedy. I was deeply saddened by such a case. Divorce cases make me contemplate what love is.

The third type is questions about car accidents. Car accidents seem inevitable in any big city like Taipei. People always ask about compensation. Some people want to get as much compensation as they can. For example, a drunken man had a car accident with a young boy who did not have a driver’s license. The drunken man thought it was entirely the young boy’s fault. He continued asking the lawyer how much compensation he could have and also wanted the young boy to buy him a new motorcycle. Besides, he wanted the lawyer and me to judge whose fault it is. But we were not police officers, we could judge whose fault it is.

To sum up, problems about leases, divorces and car accidents are the three types which people usually inquire in Sangchong Mediation Committee. I have stayed there for half a year. After encountering many clients and listening to their stories, I really do not know whether being a lawyer is an occupation that I want to do in my future. Every time when I finished my work in the Mediation Committee, I felt unhappy and depressed because the facts were too realistic and unsettling for me. My partner also said that I had put too much emotion on the cases. But I think those experiences have made me strong and brave.