All Things are Possible

     As time passed my job became increasingly more difficult.  I had more cases than I could handle.  My partner and I did not have the time to chair each other’s cases, so we could not correct our errors.  In most cases, it was not until the case was over that we were able to discover our mistakes.  Mistakes were made because there were too many cases and not enough help (i.e., paralegals, investigators or legal secretaries).  I can't count the number of times I requested an investigation and found out after the trial that my request had remained on the desk where it had been originally submitted. 

     It was very difficult to represent 40 or more cases per day, type my own documents and do your own investigations.  This was something I had to do if I wanted to make a difference.  I had to be an attorney, an investigator, a paralegal and a legal secretary.  As I worked more, it became more difficult to win cases.  It became a tough job because there were many obstacles. 

     When you quit a job, you have to consider many things. As I walked out of the office, I began thinking more about my son, Jonathan.  He was less than nine months old and always gave me the inspiration to be patient and positive.  I spent a great deal of time with him and we were always together on the weekends and the holidays.  I had dated his mother but we never married. Although leaving the County Public Defender’s Office was a big decision, I was confident I did the right thing. After I left Mr. Barnes’ office, I went to the County Pension Department to inquire about my pension.  After speaking with a customer representative, I could not believe I had accumulated over $45,000.  I was now ready to pursue my mission in life. I withdrew my pension and went home. 

     Friday afternoon I received a call from Michele Porter regarding the business loan.  She said our business loan had been approved for $200,000, although we requested more.  I asked Michele if I could meet with her Monday afternoon because I wanted to discuss the disbursement of the loan as soon as possible.  Michele agreed to meet on Monday at noon.  After speaking with her, I called John to let him know about the loan.  I also asked if he could meet with us Monday afternoon.  He quickly agreed.

     The loan was $200,000, but I actually received about $184,000.  The bank charged broker and documentation fees, which amounted to about $16,000.  I wasn’t too particularly happy about that, but there was nothing I could do.  John said, “Let’s take the money and run.” I took the money.

     The terms of the loan included a 19% interest rate for the next five years.  Our monthly payments were $4,500 per month for the next 60 months.  We had approximately $368,000 in the bank after the loan was deposited into our business account.  This was a perfect time to have “check guard” so that all the checks written were cleared until funds were transferred from one account to another.

     The next day, John and I began going over our marketing plans.  We called Iris’ friend to schedule an appointment. We spoke with Charles Daniels, a marketing executive at Daniels-Hall Marketing Firm, whose mother, Monica Hall, was the owner.  He agreed to meet with us the next morning at our office.  I was very excited about this meeting.