Legal Assistance advises students

By Tammy Sholer

With the 10,000 people who contact NIU’s Student Legal Assistance each year, Legal Assistance Director Don Henderson said the majority of cases concern landlord/tenant disputes.

Of those 10,000 contacts, about 2,500 cases are processed annually, Henderson said. People who contact the legal assistance usually have specific legal problems, he said.

Henderson said the office yearly compiles frequency statistics on each case type. Last year about 875 cases involved landlords and tenants, he said.

A wide variety of items are under this category, such as landlords returning security deposits, Henderson said.

He said the first instruction the legal assistance performs is to determine whether the case should be processed, which does not imply the landlord is refusing to return deposit checks.

About 750 cases involve criminal matters such as traffic, city ordinance or motor code violations, Henderson said.

Questions on auto repairs, enforcement of contracts and other consumer issues takes up between 250 and 375 of the cases legal assistance attorneys handle, he said.

Henderson said the remaining cases entail insurance matters, name changes, divorce and other miscellaneous subjects.

“The (legal assistance) service is open to all fee-paying students,” Henderson said.

He said, “We (the attorneys) are happy to talk to anyone before they enter into a lease or sign a contract.”

The Student Association allocates funding for the legal assistance office which comes from student fees, Henderson said. The legal assistance office was allocated about $89,000 for the 1987-88 academic year, he said.

SA Treasurer Todd Lipscomb said he does not foresee any problems with approving funds for the office in Fiscal Year 1988-89. He said, “Their (legal assistance) budget should be a good percentage higher than last year.”

The office employs two attorneys and two law clerks from the law school, Henderson said.

The office, in the lower lounge of the Holmes Student Center, is open from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

In addition, students can pick up handouts such as the “Roommate Survival Guide” at the legal assistance office. The pamphlet includes topics including how to communicate successfully with a roommate and how to resolve disagreements.

The legal assistance office was created 16 years ago because of the importance to make legal information available to students, a pamphlet stated.