Iowa State graduate student Jeremy Kurth needed someone to review a contract concerning the house he may possibly buy, but with the costs of college and daily living, the last thing he needed to pay for was legal services.

Luckily for Kurth, the Government of the Student Body funds free legal services for ISU students. All Kurth had to do was go to the Student Legal Services office in room B11 of the Memorial Union and make an appointment to see one of the two lawyers who work on behalf of students.

“Each time you talk to a student it gives you a chance to explain to them the legal process,” attorney Michael Levine said.

Levine and Paul Johnson have worked as attorneys for Student Legal Services for more than six years. Levine said he finds the work rewarding. Free legal services, he said, gives students a chance to “concentrate on their studies and their programs while they are here so they can use their financial resources for their education.

“We can give the same thing they get from their lawyers in general — legal counsel, legal advice and legal representation,” he said

Some cases, though, fall outside the services they can offer. Levine said they can not work on cases that involve overwhelming time, resources and investigation because it would take away time they could be using to help other students.

“We have to make a case-by-case determination,” he said.

Also, Student Legal Services cannot assist with student versus student cases, student versus university cases or other conflicts of interests. “Assuming that none of those apply, we do it.”

Dorinne De Krey, legal services secretary, said she encourages students to come in as soon as they need legal assistance. “Don’t plead guilty then come in and ask us to fix it.”

She said that during the fall and and spring semesters it is wise to make the appointment a day or two in advance, but “occasionally someone can walk in during the summer.”

A large portion of the cases handled by Student Legal Services involve housing — 132 housing cases during the spring semester.

An example, Levine said, is if two students rent an apartment and they agree to split the rent evenly. “They don’t realize the effect of the lease when one decides to leave. What are the legal ramifications?”

In these situations, he has to explain to students what joint and several liability is and that the landlords will want their rent despite any agreements made by the students who signed the lease.

Student Legal Services can help students who find themselves in criminal cases. The attorneys handled 146 of them in the spring.

The GSB set up the Student Legal Services in October of 1985.

The services is one the GSB’s most expensive items, with more than $145,000 of student fees going to funding it annually. Even so, De Krey said, “We don’t get rich, I’ll tell you that.”