Client Interview!

      So far, so great! That is what I have to say about my internship at the Pace Women Justice Center. Even the intense morning commute is getting much easier for me. My daily thought process when I go to work is that no matter what I am asked to do, I feel like I am definitely helping in some way or another. For example, We (as in me and the other interns) were asked to enter clients informations and details of their cases into microsoft excel so that the boxes of files were sitting around in the office can be destroyed and the Center will still have copies of them on the computer. It may not be a big deal but I feel as though doing that, is helping the people that work there so that they won't have to take the time to do it, and can focus more on helping resolve the problems of the clients they have now. That's the way I look at it, that some how I am contributing something to the Center and that is a great feeling.

      This week, Natalie asked me and another intern to sit in on a client interview. The client was looking for file for an uncontested divorce, meaning a sort of unchallenged divorce. She knew what she wanted, she was ready to leave the marriage and there was no doubt as to that. Few issues that came up during the interview was that the couple had a house that went up for foreclosure, and the client had to decide whether or not she wanted to include that in the divorce papers or just go ahed with the divorce and let the forcelosure case go on seperately. In the end it was better to just go ahead with the divorce because the client was ready to be done with the marriage and adding the foreclosure issue to it will lengthen the process.

      Other important issues were discussed all in all to really make sure the lawyers will be representing the client in the best way possible for the divorce to go smoothly. A bump in the road will be if the husband gets served with the divorce paper and decides to contest to it for whatever reason. Also, I learned that the client has to either go herself or get someone to serve the husband with the divorce papers and then go sign an affidavit, stating that they did indeed deliver the paper to the husband. If the client doesn't want to go, or feels like she cannot trust anyone to serve the papers she can request that an officer goes to serve the papers. If however the husband is not present when the officer comes, then it's back to square one where the client has to do it herself after all. I thought that was very interesting.

      I feel like I am leraning new things everyday interning and I cannot wait to learn more as the weeks go by.

Xoxo!