drop by client

Today I had a client call me and ask if he could stop by in 5 minutes for a meeting. So is life on the rez. I told him yes, as I didn't actually have any meeting scheduled for today and a few minutes later reception called up to let me know he was here.

He was a very nice guy and had some changes he wanted to make to his will, pretty easy stuff, I was happy to help him. But also it just seemed like he wanted someone to talk to. We chatted for like 2 hours. He told me about an injury he got when after things started to get a little heated with a non-tribal-member on the rez, the non-member ran up and jumped on his back. The sudden impact snapped his leg/knee. He was very frustrated by the fact that he had lost his job over the whole thing (he is now on disability because of his injury) but the non-tribal-member was allowed to keep his tribal job and really had no repercussions. My client seemed to have unsuccessfully exhausted most of his remedies (I told him to go to the tribal council - which I guess he had) and no one was willing to fire the non-member over the issue. I get why, but I guess I also get his frustration. So he told me about his problem in what seemed like a last-ditch effort.

It's hard when people come to me wanting legal help beyond the scope of my work here. I want to help these people remedy their situations but at the same time I'm not a lawyer and I can't give legal advice. Not to mention the work I'm supposed to be doing here is really pretty limited (writing wills and other estate planning documents - that's really about it). Someday I'll be able to help more people. But for now I can really only write your will (for free, and only if you're a CTUIR member). Ohh the life of a Rez Intern. Ha.

One perk to my job though, is that it has been pretty slow today, so it looks like I'm going to be able to leave work early and head back to Seattle earlier than usual. I can't wait!