Related story: Helping homeless first goal for Igor Petrovich, Legal Aid of Oklahoma staff attorney


Igor Petrovich ’s memories of the homeless community in Washington, D.C., may have been the nudge he needed to work with homeless and less fortunate clients. They make up his client base so far since being hired in August at Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma after interning at the San Diego County public defender’s office. Petrovich is a native of Bosnia who moved to the U.S. along with his family during the Bosnian War in the mid-1990s.

1. Your clients are not the high-profile cases that often make the news. What drew you to representing members of Tulsa’s homeless community?

I was drawn to representing the homeless community specifically because they are not high-profile cases. Nationwide, it is estimated that about 3.5 million people are homeless and many of them are families with children. There are many people who are in need of help and do not have the means of getting that help. To me, getting a chance to help those individuals and families, while not high profile, is incredibly rewarding.

2. Did you have anyone who you think influenced you to enter the legal profession and represent the less fortunate in the courtroom?

I think my law school experience in Washington, D.C., really cemented my interest in working with the less fortunate. My school was located near a homeless shelter and seeing so many people in need in our nation’s capital was really jarring. Seeing people sleeping on streets in front of multimillion-dollar buildings, seeing people picking through garbage in order to find something to eat in front of the Capitol building is something that you can’t just ignore. When I received the opportunity to come to Tulsa to work with the homeless community, I gladly accepted and have found the experience to be very challenging and fulfilling.

3. You are a native of Bosnia and grew up during the Bosnian War. How did your family deal with that and eventually immigrate to the U.S.?

My family contains Bosnian, Serbian, and Croatian people, so we represented all three sides of the war. It was a very difficult and frightening time to grow up in. My parents sought and were approved for asylum, and we immigrated to the United States a week before my 10th birthday. My parents gave up everything for a chance for my brother and me to have a future, and for that I am immensely grateful. My parents were in their late 30s/early 40s when they left Bosnia. To leave the only life you have known for your entire life in order to ensure your children have a better future speaks volumes about the selflessness and love my parents possess. Because of their sacrifice, I try to do what I can to make them proud and to make the 5,000-mile journey worth it.

4. What do you remember about the transition to America and its culture?

I think the biggest thing that shocked me was just how large and diverse the United States was. The entire country of Bosnia has about 4 million people. The United States has nearly 320 million spanning every race, nationality, religion and background. I think that is really what makes America so special. Everyone has a different background and a different story, and over time, we have come together to create a very diverse, and mostly united, community.

5. What would you like to see happen with the homeless community in Tulsa regarding some of the issues they face?

I would like people to realize just how easy it is to become homeless. If you lost your job today, how many mortgage payments could you make? For many people, the reality is that they could not make many. It is for this reason that I hope we, as a community, support efforts to help those who are in the dire circumstances that homelessness creates. There are many organizations working together to help end homelessness and to limit the effects of homelessness. Many are doing so with minimal budgets and minimal staffing. Tulsa is an incredibly caring city, so I would like to see more members of the community donate their time and donate to these causes with the holiday season coming up. The organizations do amazing work with very little, so it would be incredible to see what they could do if they were properly funded and had more volunteers to help them achieve their goals.