Hot dogs and law advice

Press, 23 August 1984, Page 28

Hot dogs and law advice

NZPA-AP Los Angeles Southern Californians who hunger for justice sometimes go to the dogs. Patrons of the Law Dogs hot dog stand can go to the back of the eatery on Wednesday nights and get free legal advice with their chili and onions from the lawyer-owner, Kim Pearman. “It is a way of getting people into the legal system. I tell them where to go and what to do,” said Mr Pearman, a real estate lawyer who owns six of the stands. Mr Pearman, aged 45,

insists that dishing out free legal advice is not a gimmick. Instead, he feels it will help the image of his profession. Among his customers have been students who want to get out of repaying Government loans, inventors who have new ideas to protect, and business people who want to know how to file a bankruptcy claim. They include the unlikely. A doctor’s wife, who could obviously afford a lawyer, once came because she did not trust her husband’s lawyer, he said. “I have had some interesting conversations with people. The questions are a good barometer of society,” Mr Pearman said, noting the decline of bankruptcy and mortgage questions as the economy improved. But can a lawyer wearing an apron, seated in the back of a hot dog stand, be taken seriously? Nobody mentions that, said Mr Pearman, adding that he did not think someone looking for a lawyer would look behind a hot dog stand. The menu reflects a legal ambience. There is the judge ’dog (chili with mustard and onions), the jury ’dog (mustard and onions only), the police ’dog (relish), and the plaintiff ’dog (plain.)