"That's not at all reality," Natale said."We're very pleased that [SPOC] is going tohappen. It's something we've been lobbying for fora number of years."
Delman said that while tenants have access to anumber of help groups, including the Students forPublic Interest Law, "[owners] are completelyneglected in Cambridge in terms of legalrepresentation."
But former city councillor David E. Sullivan,the architect of several key city rent controllaws, said that tenants usually have moredifficulty finding legal representation thanowners.
In general "owners have the most experiencedcounsel," Sullivan said. "Typically, the movingparty is the owner, and the tenant is on thedefensive."
Robert O. Edbrooke of the, Cambridge TenantsUnion said that although he has no objection tothe formation of SPOC, "there's more need on thetenants' side."
"In my experience tenants have been wellrepresented," Edbrooke said. "There are some smallproperty owners who...say they can't affordrepresentation, and if a group of Harvard lawstudents wants to help them out that's fine withme."
A SPIL spokesperson declined to comment Sundayon the new group's formation.