Public Counsel eNews

Volunteer Spotlight: Josh Geller

“It’s funny how things work out sometimes,” muses Josh Gellar, an outstanding volunteer with Public Counsel Child Care Law Project (CCLP). “I came to Public Counsel looking for a certain experience and ended up with a completely different one, but the one that I got proved to be one of the most satisfying experiences of my life.”

Josh came to Public Counsel after having just passed the bar as a recent Loyola grad. He was looking to gain some experience while he was looking for a full-time job. He applied online to work in our Community Development Project, for the transactional experience, but the available projects did not fit his interests or experience. Twenty minutes into his volunteer interview with Ted Zepeda, Public Counsel’s pro bono director, suggested that Josh consider CCLP. Josh was pleasantly surprised to learn that a significant portion of CCLP’s work involved transactional assistance. CCLP’s mission is to help childcare providers with their legal needs. Among the many issues CCLP addresses to help providers are tax, land use, zoning, employment and lease and other contract negotiations. CCLP also offers a series of workshops to help these providers to manage their childcare businesses.

“During my months as a volunteer with the Child Care Law Project, I helped more people than I can count,” says Josh. “It has been a true pleasure working with the clients who are so dedicated to being child care providers and I have delivered a wide range of services to our clients.” His services included conducting zoning research, communicating with landlords and homeowners associations to enforce the right to provide child care in residential settings, working with state agencies to clarify licensing requirements and get approvals, reviewing provider contracts, advising providers on how to collect payment from delinquent parents, presenting to providers on state licensing regulations and resolving complaints against providers.

With all this terrific work, CCLP is very sad to see Josh leave for his new position as a Law Clerk at the City Attorney’s Office, in the Metro division. “I’ll be helping prosecute traffic offenses and hopefully trying some cases on my own before too long,” says Josh. “Once I have enough experience I can apply for a position as a Deputy City Attorney.”

“Being able to discuss my work at Public Counsel definitely helped during the interview process and demonstrated my commitment to public service,” says Josh. “I can’t say for sure, but I’d like to think my time as a volunteer at Public Counsel helped get me the job.”

“Josh was a huge asset to the Child Care Law Project at a time we really needed an extra legal mind and pair of hands,” says Melissa Lawton, staff attorney in the Child Care Law Project. “Josh worked very hard and so efficiently - and he’s funny too! He made this office an even happier place to work. We both respect and adore Josh and wish him the best at the City Attorney’s Office. Take care of our Josh, Rocky!”