The NIU Student’s Legal Assistance Office is overloaded as usual, but trying hard to be of good service.

The office is directed by Attorney Don Henderson, a 13-year veteran of the NIU program. Assisting him are Attorney Lynn Richards and three NIU law students.

Henderson said it is not unusual to see anywhere from 2,250 to 2,500 cases per year. But due to the fact that the staff only has two attorneys and a handful of assistants, the cases which actually get to court are only in the hundreds, he said.

However, litigation and court appearances are not the main purpose of the office. Attorney Lynn Richards said “the philosophy of the office is legal preventative education.” In other words, the function of the office is to advise students on their legal rights and prevent legal conflicts before they occur.

Richards and Henderson said the office handles primarily four types of cases. Ten percent are domestic/marital, and insurance-type cases, 25 percent are criminal and 15 percent are consumer. The largest amount of cases, 30 to 40 percent, are landlord/tenant disputes.

Richards said due to the volume of cases and the fact that the clientele is highly educated and capable, students may be asked to do some of the case leg work.

“We don’t expect everyone to become little attorneys, but students should be prepared to assist in preliminary steps like gathering facts, making phone calls or writing letters,” she said.

Henderson admits at times the number of cases is frustrating, but the office tries to do the best it can. “We want to hit a home run for every student we handle, but sometimes that just isn’t possible,” he said.

He also said that in order to offset the amount of work per person, there is proposed legislation by the Student Association, which funds the office, to expand its staff.

Currently, the attorneys who are usually independently-contracted have no contract and no benefits for the month of September.

The current SA Advisory Committee has considered two possible options. Salary and benefits for the attorneys would be funded by the SA or the attorneys would become NIU employees instead of independent contractors so NIU would pay the benefits.

Richards says the downside of the SA funding the attorneys’ benefits is the extreme expense for a two-person benefit package. The tentative budget for the office is $120,000.