Clients of Rodgers, Perfillio, Heiman and Sewinsky Attorneys at Law in Sharon may have noticed a staff member who would be more likely to jump in their laps and purr than to hand out legal advice.

Justice, an 18-month-old, long-haired black cat became part of the office team last September.

"Clients like the cat. It makes us seem like real people," said Kathy Link, who works for attorney Henry Sewinsky. "She just lives here. Henry brought her in initially ... he found her around his place ... and she's been here ever since."

Sewinsky asked everyone in the office if they wanted to adopt the stray cat. Eventually, she found herself a home with the attorneys and their staff.

Mrs. Link, whose husband dubbed the legal feline "Justice," said she's always wanted a cat in the office.

Justice's territory includes the second floor of the Vine Avenue office building, where she can be found napping in the conference room, playing with paper clips or strolling the desk of secretary Nancy Fizet, whom Mrs. Link said is Justice's "mommy."

She also likes to walk across computer keyboards.

"I can tell when Justice has been across the computer," Mrs. Link said.

Justice even has her own restroom; her litter box is located in a non-working second-floor bathroom.

"I come here early in the morning and she's meowing. She knows she gets her treat in the morning," said attorney Ronald Heiman. "She has the run of the place. She plays in the papers and the paper clips and she chews all our pencils."

Occasionally, someone will forget to close the upstairs door and Justice will take the opportunity to run downstairs for a visit.

Heiman said most of the clients like Justice, but the attorneys won't bring their clients upstairs if they don't like cats.

"Cats seem very calming. When (clients) first see a lawyer they're nervous," Heiman said. "She seems to break the ice ... she doesn't run away from anybody. Clients pet her and she jumps into their laps."

Justice has learned the staff's schedule, so she spends her weekends sleeping. Employees often stop in to check on her when the staff isn't there, Heiman said.

"We were worried about weekends and holidays, but she knows where everything is," Heiman said. "One of the secretaries wanted to bring her home, but she's so used to it she might get spooked."

Heiman said he expects Justice to be a part of the team for a while.

"She has plenty of TLC, no doubt about that," he said. "She doesn't interfere with our work or conferences at all."

You can e-mail Herald Staff Writer Erin Remai at eremai @sharon-herald.com.