A Guide to the Best of Southern California : ALL-AMERICAN TRADITIONS : Jurisprudence . . .
On Wednesday evenings as many as 40 people line up in front of a Van Nuys hot-dog stand. Sure, the dogs are good, and fairly inexpensive at $1.23, but they’re not that good.
The reason for the long line is 51-year-old attorney Kim Pearman, who for eight years has been doling out free legal advice amid the stacks of buns in the back of his wiener stand.
His customers come with legal pads scribbled with notes, paper scraps stuffed in envelopes or pockets bulging with contracts. They need help with domestic disputes, real estate transactions, tenant rights’ issues, personal bankruptcy, even criminal cases. Some are suspicious of their own lawyers and want a second opinion. Others just feel more comfortable taking advice from a guy who wears old Levi’s bell-bottoms.
Pearman guides them toward their next step in the labyrinthine legal system and treats even the flakiest of questions with respect. Why does he do it for free? “You have to put something back into the system,†he says.
Law Dogs, 14114 Sherman Way, Van Nuys; (818) 989-2220.
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