“In 1983, three years before Robert James’s death in 1986, Letitia James was just 24 years old and living at her family’s two-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn with seven siblings. She had not yet entered law school. That’s when she and her father, Robert James, applied for a mortgage loan to purchase a small home at 114-04 Inwood Street in Queens as “husband and wife.” This level of self-representation is rare in estate matters, especially when the filer is a licensed attorney and public official.”
So Letitia James hadn’t entered law school at the time, yet was a licensed attorney and public official for purposes of making her look even worse than she is. Playing this sort of anachronism game undermines the author’s credibility.
she wasnt a lawyer at that time. Law school is typically three years but you can do it faster.
What I can’t understand is 10 people living in 888 square feet. This is like people lived during the depression but I am not used to New York standards where people live in tiny tiny apartments and pay crazy rent
so why wasnt Nellie listed as wife? Bad credit? In a mental hospital?
The mortgage dates from 1983. The estate’s legal paperwork that she prepared dates from 1999. That part is consistent.
The part that the GP author didn’t explore deeper is that it appears she took over the estate and effective cut off all of her 7 siblings from receiving any benefits. I suppose you could argue that it was indeed hers alone (thanks to being named on the mortgage) once her father/”husband” passed, but of course none of that seems to have been a subject of probate.
“So Letitia James hadn’t entered law school at the time, yet was a licensed attorney and public official for purposes of making her look even worse than she is. Playing this sort of anachronism game undermines the author’s credibility.”
The sentences you quote are in different sections of the article.
According to public information, James received her J.D. in 1987 and was admitted to practice in NY in 1989. When she purchased the property with her father listed as her husband in 1983, she had not yet completed law school.
At the time she filed for letters of administration, she HAD completed law school. It’s strange that she waited over 10 years to start the probate of his estate and did not hire an estate lawyer to do so.
From the article:
“Though Robert James died in 1986, it wasn’t until 1999 that Letitia James filed for letters of administration over his estate. The Inwood Street house she purchased with her father was listed as the only asset.”
She wasn’t a licensed lawyer who represented herself until she filed the Letters of Administration on her father’s estate in 1999.