When citizens are denied public benefits like food stamps or unemployment insurance, they rarely seek legal council, said Geraldine M. Doetzer, the only public-benefits attorney at the Legal Aid Justice Center in Petersburg.

“If they apply and are turned down, they feel that it is something they didn’t deserve, so they don’t pursue a legal avenue even though they have a right to those benefits,” she said. “An attorney could be crucial for them to get the benefits.”

Her first client got a $3,000 “line of credit” from a car-title lender with an interest rate of 300 percent. In just six months the woman has already had to pay back $5,000 — with just $16 going to the principal, the rest to interest.

For University of Richmond law student Miriam Sincell, her client’s predicament is an example of the sort of case she hopes to devote her career to.