Farewell and Goodbye
As much as it pains me to leave CLARD, all good things must come to an end. They’re a great bunch to work with, they know how to enjoy life, and they get things done. It’s a great balance that more work environments should embrace. I think what really was eye-opening for me, is how much can be done with so few resources. Fortunately, CLARD receives funding from the United States and other countries, but our funding is limited. So our office is simple, and we tend to avoid luxuries. We didn’t even have a fan during the two-week heat wave. Despite our humble office and resources, the work that gets produced at CLARD is quality, so much so that we’re known among the locals for fixing their legal problems. I’d say 90% of the people walking into our office already had a another attorney working on their case, and the job wasn’t satisfactory, so they needed us. And the fact that we were the ones that solved their legal problems is a point of pride.
Now, in Kosovo, a lawyer cannot just do another lawyer’s work, but you can tackle other legal problems that come up during the legal process. An easy way to understand this is to give an example. Say for example, someone comes in and says that they were charged with a crime, and they already have a private attorney building up a case to exonerate them of the charges. Now, say during the interrogation process, the accused was beaten by police. If the private attorney refuses to pursue a Due Process violation, sometimes those victims seek out another attorney, and sometimes that other attorney is us. It makes for interesting cases as sometimes we are thrusted in the middle of ongoing litigation. It’s a challenge, but we all like a challenge.
Kosovo takes an interesting approach with free legal aid. It seems that in the United States, you need to be very poor to qualify for free legal aid services, while in Kosovo, they expand who qualifies. Free legal aid is pretty much open to all as we have never asked someone what their financial situation was. Although, most of our clients range from very poor all the way to middle class. Hiring an attorney in Kosovo costs significant money, and most people are not in a financial situation to be able to afford a private attorney. Especially for things where they get no monetary benefit which can offset the costs of legal fees such as arguing for the right to receive their pension or child custody. This is where we fit in, and this is the bread-and-butter of our work. Although we do get some high-profile people that seek legal help from us as we are just that good at what we do.
Enough bragging (even though it is well-deserved), CLARD allowed me to think on my feet and it really challenged me as they essentially knighted me as a quasi-attorney. I’m just missing a Kosovo Bar certification and some schooling at the University of Pristina. I was entrusted with representing CLARD and its clients, and it was an honor to be a member of the team. I think I’ll visit CLARD in the near future, but for now, law school is calling my name.