Staff highlights
Sara Buggs, investigator
Like any good investigator, Sara Buggs has a wide-ranging career background. She has investigated insurance claims and negotiated settlements. She has administered employer health programs for small businesses. She has served as an election judge and led field teams for the Census Bureau. She has gathered and prepared case facts to establish child support.
In 2023, all that experience led Buggs to her dream job: the first-ever investigator for Adult Representation Services. In this role, she assists the ARS legal teams by planning, organizing and conducting investigations. She collaborates across all areas of practice, including housing eviction, parent representation, guardianship and more.
As the first person in her role at ARS, Buggs has been able to shape and grow the investigator position as it develops. In doing so, she draws on 20 years of previous administrative experience in the private sector.
“I get to use strategic thinking and creative problem solving every day, knowing it will help someone that wouldn’t have had legal services if it wasn’t for ARS,” she said.
For Buggs, no two days are the same, as the needs vary from locating people, to interviewing witnesses, to reviewing documents and preparing to testify. “Right now, I’m working on a housing case, a parental case and a guardianship case, and they all have different requirements in court.”
Much like her work in insurance claims, Buggs must learn the laws, policies and contracts related to each case. Along with adapting to each focus area, she must adapt as a communicator.
“You must be tenacious and find a way to get to the information you need,” she said. “So, I am building a rapport with both the attorneys and people in the community.”
Over the past year, Buggs has visited many clients’ homes to get to know them better. She has met families at risk of losing their housing and parents at risk of losing their parental rights.
“Providing legal services while connecting people with social services is an upstream approach that works to make our clients more self-sufficient. It’s truly innovative and effective.”
Published 10/23/24