Good Karma

I recently got a phone call from a very pleasant woman who asked if I could help her finalize bankruptcy paperwork for filing.  She had found my number on the internet, on a directory website I don’t use much, but on which I’m now grateful I have a profile.  

Well, the fact of the matter is, I can’t help her finalize her bankruptcy paperwork.  As a freelance paralegal, I am only authorized to work for an attorney, and under his or her supervision; I cannot work for the general public.  Therefore, even if I were a bankruptcy specialist, which I am not, I couldn’t legally help her with her bankruptcy.

So I proceeded to explain to her that in lieu of hiring an attorney, the kind of person who might be able to help was a Legal Document Assistant (LDA).  LDAs are registered with the State (in California, anyway) and are able to help individuals prepare legal documents in many fields such as adoptions, divorces, bankruptcy, etc.  I took down the woman’s name, phone number and email address.  I ran a quick Google search and found three websites where this woman might be able to find a qualified LDA who could look over her bankruptcy papers for her, and I emailed them to her, and wished her well.  It all took about fifteen minutes of my time.

I’ll never make a dime from this.  I don’t even know this woman’s last name or what city she lives in.  I doubt I will ever bump into her, and I don’t expect she will ever be in a position to refer me any business from local attorneys.
 

I just wanted to try and help her out a bit.  Be a good citizen.  Be a contributing member of my local community.  Build my “whuffie” (about which, read more in my upcoming “Whuffie” post.)   I just wanted to be the nice person Mom and Dad raised me to be.

Got any “good karma” stories of your own to share?  Feel free to leave them in the comments!