Student Legal Services and YOU!

Samantha Perez, Sydney Ricks, Caitlin Schultz, Sierra Shepard University of North Texas November 21, 2013

Student Legal Service and YOU!

Introduction
Many students of the University of North Texas are uninformed about the Student Legal Services available to them. Student Legal Services offer UNT students with legal advice, assistance, representation and education. Their goals are to allow students to focus on their education and stay in school in spite of any number of legal obstacles. The services of this office are completely free to enrolled students. Our Intro to Science, Professional, and Technical Writing team took a visit to the Eagle Student Services Center to interview a graduate student who works with Student Legal Services. This report will include the following aspects of the Student Legal Services: Background Information On-Site Visit Results from Interview

Background
Student Legal Services staff is committed to helping students resolve their legal issues so that they can stay in school and focus on their class work. They empower students by enhancing their knowledge of the legal process and giving them confidence. The student legal services aims to provide resources and legal knowledge for students long after they leave UNT. Although we do not know the specific date in which the Student Legal Service was founded, we can say that it has been around for at least six years, and has grown to help students with many cases. The main cases that they can represent or advise for include: Landlord and Tennant cases, Cases involving consumers, personal injury claims, employment issues, family issues, and notary

Student Legal Service and YOU! public claims. These services are available to all currently enrolled students to help or support them.

On Site Visit

The Student Legal Services center is located inside Stovall Hall in Suite 136, on the campus of the University of North Texas. They can be reached by phone at (940) 565-2614, or by email at followup.kmc@unt.edu. Student Legal Services offers a wide variety of services for currently enrolled students of University of North Texas. Most resources are located online, and are there to provide help with questions about general law information, other court houses near Denton, consumer help resources, and government help resources. After calling and scheduling an appointment, Student Legal Services can help students with advising and in some cases they can provide representation. Below is a list of the faculty and staff currently working in the Student Legal Service:

Faculty Member Kathryn McCauley Terence Yee

Job Title Attorney Graduate Student/Student adviser

Terence Yee was interviewed about the Student Legal Service. He was one of the most qualified people we could interview because he had been working there for more than three years and has seen it grow, and change. He was one of the most educated graduate students that we

Student Legal Service and YOU! could have interviews. Yee is not currently or has ever been a pre-law student since UNT does not offer a pre-law program, but he is a graduate studying at UNT.

Results
What is your mission statement? Although the website is very beneficial, it does not state the goal of the service. Terence informed us that the mission statement of Student Legal Services is to provide students with legal assistance and education (Yee, Terence, personal communication, November 22, 2013) and to help students resolve their legal issues so that they can stay in school and focus on their class work (Yee, Terence, personal communication, November 22, 2013). If students are preoccupied with solving a case between a landlord and a past tenant, then it can be hard for them to maintain focus on their studies. Student Legal Services aims to help students by taking away the added stress of legal complications. What services does the student legal services offer?

The student legal services offers a wide variety of things to only currently enrolled students of University of North Texas. For example they offer assistance and representation in education to students who seek legal guidance (Yee, Terence, personal communication, November 22, 2013) and students are directed to implore self-help resources through online publications and the local court system (Yee, Terence, personal communication, November 22, 2013). Student Legal Services is designed to offer services for every need of students that fits within the best interests if the students and the university. A list of things that the Student Legal Services include cases involving:

Security Deposit Debts and Credit Issues Unpaid Wages Dispute Resolutions Cellular Phone Billing Discrimination Domestic Violence Subletting Evictions Wrongful Termination Attorney Referrals Lemon Law Auto Accidents Deceptive Trade Practices Injuries Sexual Harassment Consumer Complaints

If you dont offer some services, do you think that you will offer them in the future?

Student Legal Service and YOU! Some of the services that arent offered by the Student Legal Service include, disputes between other students, cases against the University, and cases dealing with immigration. The reason that Student Legal Services cannot represent students against another student is because they are paid to work for all students of UNT, and so it would be like fighting amongst ourselves (Yee, Terence, personal communication, November 22, 2013) as Yee said. It would be a conflict of Interest (Yee, Terence, personal communication, November 22, 2013), which is the same reasoning for a dispute against the University. The University hires us (Yee, Terence, personal communication, November 22, 2013) as Yee put it, saying that it would not make sense to go against the very people that hire them. Immigration cases are a specialized field of work for certain law firms. Although the Student Legal Service can offer advice on where to receive help, they cannot support students in cases involving immigration. Student Legal Services also cannot support students in criminal cases. How many legal cases do you encounter per semester? Are they mostly from students? Or do you receive cases from alumni, or staff as well?

Student Legal Services does not receive a specific amount of cases every year but on average they receive around 530 cases and about 200 notaries (Yee, Terence, personal communication, November 22, 2013). There are particular things that they receive a lot for during a certain time of year, for example; they receive mostly tickets after spring break, but in December they rarely see cases because many students are out for vacation. Student Legal Services only offers their services to currently enrolled students. The reason for this is because when students pay a services fee in their tuition cost, they are paying for many services on campus, including the Health and Wellness Center, The Recreational Center, and Student Legal Services. These services are available only to currently enrolled students because they have already paid for the service. Student Legal Services does not and will not receive cases from alumni, or staff. How do students receive legal advice depending on their case?

If students want to receive legal advice on any case, including ones not supported by the service, they will need to call and ask for an appointment. Student Legal Services no longer allows walk-ins because of the location and the space available for students to wait. Yee stated that if they want legal advice regardless of what case it is they would need to set up an appointment call the office and we would set up a time convenient for them (Yee, Terence, personal communication, November 22, 2013). Have you ever had to turn away a student for a case?

We dont turn students away said Yee if we cannot help them we give them a referral sheet like an immigration attorney or criminals attorney (Yee, Terence, personal communication, November 22, 2013). Although they cannot represent students in some cases they can always provide a list of other resources for students to take advantage of. To the best of Yees knowledge, the Student Legal Service has never had to turn away a student for a case. What is required of students to get assistance from you?

Student Legal Service and YOU! It is highly beneficial for students to have documentation with them during the meetings with the attorney or an advisor. It provides a legal basis to see what the contract is based upon (Yee, Terence, personal communication, November 22, 2013). But if a student does not have a contract or any legal documentation present, it is still okay to visit the attorney or advisor for help. How does the charge depend on the case?

The service is free to all currently enrolled students. Having this service for free is both convenient and cost effective for students currently enrolled in the University of North Texas.

Conclusion
From the interview we learned that the student legal services center can help you in many ways. The 2 most common issues students come to them with are auto accidents and problems with off campus housing. The student legal services center cannot represent criminal things such as immigration, because it is a different field. Other than that, as long as your problem is not involved with UNT or another student and you are enrolled at UNT you can always receive help. We would recommend this service to other students because it seems very helpful if were ever involved in a legal issue. It is always good to take advantage of your resources.

References
It Goes Back to the Middle Ages in England (2013). Picture. Retreived from http://askville.amazon.com/tradition-judge-banginggavel/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=63930773http://askville.amazon.com/traditionjudge-banging-gavel/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=63930773 McCauley, Kathryn Attorney (2013). Student Legal Services. http://studentlegal.unt.edu. Retrieved November 21, 2013, from <http://studentlegal.unt.edu/about-us> Map of Unt (2013). Picture. Retreived from http://untpowwow.wordpress.com/ Student Legal Services (2013). Picture. Retrieved from http://ntdaily.com/did-you-know-untprovides-free-legal-advice-to-students/

Student Legal Service and YOU!