Re: Tenant Lawyer by Default

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On 10/06/06, Jonny B. Goode wrote:
> Here's the deal. I live in a city with a less than 1&37;
> vacancy rate. Meaning lots of tenants with problems. I
> am an atty. who takes tenant cases from time to time. For
> some reason, by word of mouth, I am considered the go to
> guy in town for all tenant rights cases. I never asked to
> be. Just happened. To all the Landlord_tenant lawyers
> out there, is there any money to be made as a tenant
> lawyer and if so, how? I would love to help but I need to
> eat as well.

The reason you are getting so many referrals is because no
one else wants the work because the work sucks. By now you
know that. I don't know what you are charging, but around
here the paralegals are charging $100 for a Pro Per UD
Answer, and most Tenants go to the paralegals during the
evictions.

I assume you are getting referrals from tenants not being
evicted yet but who have some other complaint... slow or non-
existent repairs being the biggest one. Unless there is an
attorney fee provision in the contract, its a dead end, since
you are not willing to do it on contingency, and they are not
willing to pay you hourly. Even if there is an attorney fee
provision, the case is still iffy.

Its not a winning niche. To make money on the tenant side,
you have to find the few Premises Liability/Breach Of
Habitability Cases that are legitimate. But its a huge
amount of drugery for very little payoff. Its the occassional
big case that makes the money. The "class action" type cases
where 30 or so tenants ban together against the big bad slum
lord. Its pretty rare but in those cases I can see it paying
off both in money and in publicity.