It is a bad day when you find out your landlord is keeping your security deposit, your roommate left and expects you to foot the bill and then, to top it off, you get stopped for driving with a suspended license. What do you do? How about contacting NIU’s Student Legal Services for free legal advice?

If you are a full or part-time student, Student Legal Services can help you with these and many other problems, ranging from housing codes to mail order fraud.

During this past academic year, Student Legal Services consulted over 11,700 cases and represented over 2,490 of these cases in court, Don Henderson, Director of the Student Legal Services said.

“Thirty-five to forty percent of the new cases each year are cases involving landlord and tenant law, twenty-five percent are criminal cases and the other twenty-five percent of the cases are split between consumer matters, domestic relations and insurance questions,” Henderson said.

However, the service cannot help students in cases involving NIU and its faculty, such as a student wanting to sue an NIU faculty member or a student wanting to sue another student.

Even though the service is limited in the action it can take, it can advise students on their options. Student Legal Services can offer a mediations service in which the two parties involved in a dispute can talk with a mediator in hopes of resolving any differences outside the court of law, Henderson explained.

Student Legal Services is located in the basement of the Holmes Student Center and operates Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

So, next time you find out your stereo was stolen, right after the neighbor’s dog bit you, or even if you just need help with a lease, remember Student Legal Services. Use what you pay for—it is worth it.