Legal services aren’t always cheap, and that can be a problem for college students with little money. Student Legal Services (SLS), located in the Memorial Union, is here to help. SLS provides confidential legal advice — for free.

Part of SLS’ goal is to reduce the amount of stress students might feel as they confront legal issues so students can focus on succeeding in their academics.

Most of the consultations the office sees are related to criminal law (28 percent) or housing issues (26 percent), according to attorney and co-director of SLS Paul Johnson, but they are available to consult on a variety of areas.

Johnson’s favorite part of working at SLS is getting to work with college students. 

“We work with generally a younger student population, we work with bright people with bright ideas, we try to be a teaching type resource for people but we learn a lot from students too,” Johnson said. “I’ve been here for 27 years and I think working with younger people has kept me from aging as much as I would have normally.”

Each semester, attorney and co-director of SLS Michael Levine estimates they see around 600-700 students. Last semester, they saw 551.

For Levine, there is never enough awareness of SLS. Too often, he says, upperclassmen will come in needing advice then tell him they wish they’d known about the services when they were in trouble when they were younger.

“If you have a legal issue of any kind, it doesn’t necessarily have to be a legal problem, take advantage of the service and come see us,” Levine said.

What’s interesting to Levine is the wide range of consultations they give in a day. He said that he’ll have a student come in about a public intoxication charge and the next consultation he gives will be to someone with “a well-founded fear of persecution from a country far, far away.”

Besides the in-office advice, Johnson and Levine also hold law-based education presentations to help raise awareness. 

“We might do a presentation on rental housing issues. People are going to live on-campus for a limited then move off-campus and we can help prepare them for that off-campus experience,” Johnson said.

Levine has assisted with presentations relating to immigration with International Students and Scholars. He anticipates to do many more presentations of the sort as new executive orders are made.

Johnson and Levine are the only two attorneys in SLS and came to Iowa State in 1990, five years after the services opened. Prior to Iowa State, they each engaged in private practice.

They also have an office coordinator, Debbie Carter, who is an Iowa State alumna. She helps to set up appointments and answer questions about SLS.

SLS is funded entirely by Student Government and is available to Iowa State students and recognized Iowa State student groups.