One Week at Housing Court and Counting

Actually, it was only four days.

Actually, I only spent a total of about three hours in court over those four days.

And, actually, it's hardly a court.

But, if you ever want to get a first hand look at the dregs of the legal system, I highly recommend it.

I just started my Summer legal intern position at a local legal services corporation providing legal assistance to individuals too poor to afford it.

Some realities of the Brooklyn Housing Court:
1) Almost none of the tenants, who are usually the defendants, have lawyers.
2) Nearly all of the landlords, who are usually suing to evict, do.
3) Most of those landlord lawyers live in the housing court, occupying stuffy little fourth floor "common rooms" with their massive, poorly dressed, greasy haired, two cellphones having, four paralegals terrorizing, stipulation sheet writing, unholy presence.
4) A lot of the judges don't really know what they are doing and don't seem to give a shit.
5) Can you appeal? Sure. But the higher courts aren't gonna listen, because they just don't have the time or the inclination to hear about every individual who is getting thrown out of their house so that the landlord can get a "Fair Market Value" that places the annual rent in excess of the annual income of the average United States citizen.
6) The merits of your argument will often go unnoticed.
7) The best strategy appears to be to threaten to lawyer circles around the landlord's counsel and hope they give you a good settlement.

Welcome to the shadow world of Administrative law. We've all seen courtroom dramas, but 95% of what happens, legally speaking, to normal people happens in a courtroom like this.