Our laws are meant to protect everyone, no matter how much money or power they have. But many seniors and people who live in poverty struggle to assert their rights without help. The legal system is complex, and when there is a power imbalance between parties, the most vulnerable people and families suffer. This is where legal aid advocates and pro bono attorneys play crucial roles—balancing the scales, and ensuring that everyone gets treated fairly.

Our recent client, Doris (pseudonym), is a senior whose home is in a subsidized housing complex. She lives on Social Security Retirement. When a trespasser broke the windows of her ground-floor apartment, the complex’s management completely boarded up all of the windows, and made no effort to replace them.

Doris came to us when the situation was intolerable, and when she and some of her neighbors were traumatized by the poor treatment they’d gotten. We asserted Doris’s rights under Michigan’s Anti-Lockout Statute, which protects a tenant’s rights to live in their home without such drastic changes as windows being left boarded up. The building’s management complied with a court order—replacing all of the broken windows and compensating our client under the terms of the law.

That’s the power of legal aid—giving clients a voice and guaranteeing fair treatment in our justice system.