2021-2022 Annual Summary Report

The program retains four full time experienced attorneys to provide legal consultation, representation and preventive legal education. The program employs a full-time Office Administrator and 3 to 5 student workers. Consultation and representation are often forms of preventive legal education as well as amelioration. Each prong of services has positive impacts on student success and retention as will be shown in the Assessment section infra. View the entire student legal service strategic plan.

Impact

Consultation and Contacts

SLS Strategic Plan. Section 1, Goal 1 "Provide quality legal advice and counseling to students regarding their rights and responsibilities." This aspect of services fosters student success and acts as guidance for students to obtain a lifetime skill of becoming their own advocate.

1,485 Students received services in person or via remote services.
45.63% were International students; 55.03% were Domestic students.
756 identified as female, 935 as male, 21 neither or other
2,045 contacts with students were counted. These are students who had follow-up emails, zooms, or in-person meetings for clarification of legal issues, decisions, court preparation, review of student consumer or housing letters etc. This is a metric the office began tracking during the most active era of Covid. This metric will continue to be tracked as it reflects both usage and time issues for staff.
Assessment results indicate that 67.43% (previous year 67.13%) of respondents indicated that the consultation enhanced their ability to focus on studies. 19.05%(previous year 15.07%) of respondents indicated that without legal help, they would have considered leaving school.

Preventative Legal Education and Legal Information Access

SLS Strategic Plan, Section 3 "Provide students with quality preventive legal education and programming that educates students about their rights and responsibilities." The Student Legal Services website has been the major portal for students to access office services and the vast array of preventive educational materials and topical alerts.

130,159 total hits on the website.
10 tabling/outreach events for Illini Day Resource Fair. Estimated 350 potential students.
Nuts and Bolts of Renting: Trio
International Student Orientation Summer 2021/fall 2021 Legal Issues for International Students.
Gambling, a podcast co-sponsored by McKinley Health Center

Representation

Student Legal Service Strategic Plan Section 2 addresses opening cases involving potential representation, and settlement, alternative/out of court resolution of student legal issues. During this reporting period professional staff have focused on advising and resolving legal issues without the need to formally open the case or engage in court proceedings. The metrics for consultation and contacts reflect this policy trend that is increasingly common in student legal service programs. Substantially fewer housing cases have been formally opened regarding damage deposit issues as the current practice by housing management/owners is to send deposit issues to credit reporting agencies rather than bring suit in court. Often our office does not learn of the credit report issue until student has graduated or the time for filing a dispute has passed. This practice is particularly egregious in Safe Homes Act situations in which the victim vacates pursuant to the act and stops paying rent only to have the matter arise in the credit context which is lawful on the part of the landlord. The office had concerns that once the eviction moratorium was fully lifted that there would be significant numbers of students evicted, however, in most cases leases ended before the landlords could sue for possession via eviction and thus could only sue for money judgments. Overwhelmingly, most student paid and continue to pay their rent.

103 students had cases that were formally opened in 11 categories. 28 in housing issues, 49 traffic, 10 misdemeanor, 5 name change, 6 consumer.
44.01% Domestic Students, 52.42% International students
156 students had cases opened in previous reporting period.

Assessment

Student Legal service Strategic Plan Sections 1-7 have assessment methods and metrics for success for each section.

International LL.M. Interns self-evaluated pursuant to Section 7 and were evaluated by director. In each case highly successful and qualified for practicum eligibility of New York Bar.
Section 6 Three attorneys met the mandatory continuing legal education requirement of the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission on or before June 30, 2022. The fourth attorney has a June 30, 2023, deadline.
Section 4 There were four outreach educational events that were successful together with 384 hits on the videos page where recordings of the events are posted.

Using Campus Labs, now known as "Anthology", the office sent out electronic surveys to obtain student feedback in key metrics of success in consultation services. The results are generally positive as delineated below.

79.69% better equipped to handle similar situations in the future
67.19% restored and/or enhanced my sense of well being
Level of knowledge regarding legal issue prior to meeting with SLS (none and minimal ): 59.58% of Consult-Only; 49.13% of Cases Closed.
Level knowledge of legal situation after meeting with SLS attorney (moderate, significant and expert): 97.87% of Consult-Only; 89.23% of Cases Closed.

Equity, Inclusion, Justice

The fundamental rationale for the three mission goals of the Student Legal Service Program is to provide access to justice for students enrolled at the University of Illinois. This has been the purpose of the program from its earliest iteration in the early 1960s when it was volunteer attorneys through it becoming funded by SORF and Student Government to the present time where it is a unit of the Office of the Dean of Students. The services provided are a lifeline for international students and large portions of underrepresented students who do not have the financial means to obtain legal guidance or representation. Office hiring did not take place during this reporting period. Illinois Supreme Court Rule 794(d)(i) continuing legal education in inclusion and diversity is complementary with Inspire the Future, 2021-2026 Student Affairs Strategic Plan, Goal 2 Ci &iv, to increase the reach of social justice training. Staff attorneys took the following bar accredited courses highly relevant to the goals of diversity education.

Cognitive Bias in Forensic Pathology
What old Philosophers say about new Bias Issues
Your Time to Shine: Com batting Bias in the Legal Workplace
Com batting Systemic Bias: What Attorneys Can and Must Dos
Disrupting Bias in the Legal Profession: A Mental Reset to Work more Effectively with Clients
Housing and Racial Justice
Supporting Transgender Students and Mitigating Legal Risks: What You Should Know

2020-2021 Goals

Attorneys will obtain continuing legal education credits with renewed emphasis on the program's longstanding effort to develop and enhance expertise in consumer law, immigration law, and evolving standards and varieties of evidence.
Achievement: Three attorneys obtained sufficient credit with the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission as of June 30, 2022. 14.5 credits were issued in the goal specialty of evidence at the in-person program at Annual Forensic Evidence program at Las Vegas, Nevada. Attorney Emily Vock received 17.5 credits by attending the virtual conference of National Association of Consumer Lawyers fall of 2022. Her ARDC certification will be due June 2023.
The office will revise our Consultation survey to reflect method of service delivery: zoom, telephone, in-person.
Achievement: Our surveys using "Anthology" were revised and now request a box be checked for method. This enables the office to determine whether any method is more effective in terms of client satisfaction, learning, ability to focus on studies etc.
The program will continue to provide legal consultation and representation services with the option for virtual consultation (spring 2021 assessment indicated that students wanted to retain virtual access as an option)
Achievement: We retained the option at intake for students to make a method choice. Approximately 50% of students request remote access, which is convenient: they are abroad, student teaching, doing class field work or practicums or simply as personal preference.

Responses to Student Affairs Questions

The following is a printout of the FY2022 Annual Report for Student Legal Services, requested by Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, responding to prescribed questions, and submitted online.

Department/Unit:
Student Legal Services
Which organizational unit does your department report to?
Dean of Students
Department/unit's mission statement?
The mission of the Student Legal Service program is to provide preventive education, representation, and counseling that positively impact retention and empower students to achieve their greatest personal and academic potential.
Department/unit's vision statement (if applicable):
Develop and/or enhance the practical legal competencies of students.
Department/unit's values (if applicable):
- Respect differing levels of student acumen/insight regarding their legal issues.
- Respect Cultural diversity regarding legal issues, courts and the role of lawyers.
- Encourage client investment and participation in their case/legal issue with clients being kept informed of the process and their decisional choices and consequences.

Section 2: 2021-2022 Accomplishments and Challenges

Identify the top 3-5 accomplishments from your unit from the period of July 1, 2021 - June 30, 2022. When appropriate utilize metrics and/or comparison data to support your accomplishments. When writing accomplishments, please summarize key information into 1-3 sentences.

Accomplishment #1:
Mentored International LL.M. student from College of Law from Thailand fall semester and and International LL.M from the College of Law from Romania spring semester. They can be certified to sit for the New York Bar. They participated in interviews, court, translations and expanded research bank for the office. Internship is in cooperation with the College of Law.
Accomplishment #2:
Your Rights in Traffic Court, Jury Waiver and Misdemeanor Admonitions are basic legal documents regularly used by our clientele. These documents have now been translated into Thai and Romanian with French versions being revised. We now have a total of 19 non-English documents that can be downloaded together with 12 languages for office produced pamphlets and guides.
Accomplishment #3:
There were 2,045 contacts with the staff attorneys. These include email follow-up/advice clarifications. There were 1,485 unique zoom, telephone, or in-person legal consultations. 130,159 hits on office website.
Accomplishment #4 (Optional):
We analyzed survey data regarding client satisfaction, ability to focus on studies, well-being, stress, educational outcomes, and retention impact comparing results with in-person service versus remote. The comparative data are listed as follows:
- In Person Zoom/remote better equipped to handle similar situation in future
- 81.18 % 79.69 % without legal help I would have considered leaving school
- 11.11 % 17.19 % services enhance focus on studies
- 62.23 % 64.06% services restored /enhanced sense of well being
- 68.89 % 67.19 % allowed me to feel less stressed about issue
- 80.0 % 79.69 % Preliminary analysis suggests that there is very little difference in various outcomes between remote and in-person services based on limited data.
Accomplishment #5 (Optional):
April 2022 three staff attorneys were able to obtain 14.5 continuing legal education credits at an in-person event for the first time in two years. The interaction, contacts, of live education is vital for staff.
In 250 words or less, describe your unit's key challenges during the past year.
- 12 weeks without our fourth attorney. This resulted in modest intake and service delays for this temporary staff reduction.
- 11 weeks without our highly experienced Office Administrator which did lead to a backlog of some bills and documents. Matters have been resolved.
- Dealing with temporary support staff who do not have experience in a law office or comparable environment.
- Staff returning to full time in-office and in-person client consultations where clients did not wear masks and may or may not have been vaccinated. Many clients continued to wear masks as interviews do not provide for genuine social distance. While there was staff concern everyone adjusted in a positive fashion. 50% or more of students continued to request remote services which reflects that students in last years assessment surveys requested that this option be retained.

Key Performance Indicators (KPI) are metrics that are collected and reported across time. Each KPI should be clearly defined so the same data is compared year-to-year. Student Affairs has reported the following KPl's during the last academic year in reports to Chancellor, Provost. and other entities.

This is not a comprehensive list of all metrics collected by units. These have been reported across multiple years, requested by various stakeholders, or used in various presentations/reports by the VCSA. We are expected to report on these annually.

Although metrics alone cannot describe the complexity of our work, they do help us to identify trends which can assist us in advocacy and our ability to adapt to changing environments/student needs.

Asian American Cultural Center

Attendees at events hosted by Asian American Cultural Center

Campus Recreation

Visits to Campus Recreation facilities (Includes Activities and Recreation Center (ARC), Campus Recreation Center East (CRCE), Ice Arena)*

Career Center

Student contacts at The Career Center

Counseling Center

Clinical appointments at Counseling Center (Includes individual and group appointments)
Embedded counselor clinical appointments
Counseling Center outreach and prevention events
Embedded counselor outreach and prevention events
Served in outreach events through the Counseling Center

FSA

Students were members of fraternity and sororities

ILC

Attendees at Illinois Leadership Center programs/services

Illini Union

Visits to the Illini Union
Illini Union Board events

International Education

Participants in International Education's Global Leadership Program

McKinley

Total Visits to McKinley Health Center (Includes clinical appointments and vaccinations

OMSA

Student interactions with OMSA Advising and Mentoring Services

OSCR

Adjudicated cases in Office for Student Conflict Resolution

SAC

Cases processed at the Student Assistance Center

Student Engagement

Registered student organizations

Student Legal

Student-client contacts in Student Legal

Testing Center

Exams administered at the Testing Center

University Housing

Unique residents living in University Housing (all unique residents throughout fiscal year)
Total University Housing occupancy fall semester
Total University Housing occupancy spring semester

If your unit has one or more of the KPl's listed above, please report on it here. Please list the metric description (e.g. Student Contacts at The Career Center) and the metric itself.

Student Legal Services Contacts: 2,045
1,485 unique in-person or remote appointments with students, not included in Contacts above.

Section 5: Strategic Planning and Goal Setting

The Student Affairs 2021-2026 Strategic Plan went into effect on July 1, 2021. The plan contains an updated mission, vision, values, goals, and initiatives for the next 5 years. View the Student Affairs Strategic Plan.

All departments/units will identify a minimum of three goals that align with the Student Affairs Strategic Plan. The goal will contain a description of how the department will achieve that goal, a timeline for implementation, and evidence/metrics that will be used to assess that goal. Units/department may also choose to create their own strategic plan that is aligned with the Student Affairs strategic plan (not required).

Student Affairs Strategic Plan Goal #1

Identify how the goal aligns with the Student Affairs strategic plan, contain a description of how the department will achieve that goal, a timeline for implementation, and evidence/metrics that will be used to assess that goal.

List Goal #1:
Finalize contract with Clio to provide time tracking, document management, task management, client intake and legal calendaring electronic services. Receive training and fully implement this service.
Identify the Student Affairs Strategic Theme Goal #1 is aligned with.
F. Technology for Learning
Goal #1 How it will be achieved & timeline:
Service to be in use Fall 2022 semester. Training within a month of contract implementation.
Goal #1 Metrics/Evidence:
Contract will be signed by Dean of Students. Intake access by students will begin and will be reported to Student Legal Service Advisory Board re satisfaction, etc.

Student Affairs Strategic Plan Goal #2

List Goal #2:
One or more attorneys will make one or more presentations on a relevant legal topic to a professional organization such as Champaign County Bar Association, Illinois State Bar Association, National Legal Aid and Defender's Association, U.S. Student Legal Service Association, East Central Illinois Women Attorneys Association, etc., as part of engagement with the larger legal community with a secondary goal of updating Bench and Bar about the services of the program and how to make proper referrals.
Identify the Student Affairs Strategic Theme Goal #2 is aligned with.
E. Civic Engagement and Community Accountability
Goal #2 How it will be achieved & timeline:
Volunteer or accept invitations to make presentations on relevant topics with one or more of the legal groups listed above during this reporting period.
Goal #2 Metrics/Evidence:
Count the number and date of presentation and any materials prepared for the legal engagement. Record requests for materials: brochures, information sheets, etc., made by the Court, and other entities. Report numbers to Student Legal Service Advisory Board and in this annual report.

Student Affairs Strategic Plan Goal #3

List Goal #3:
With appropriate budgetary resources, obtain continuing legal education as required by the Illinois Supreme Court with a strong commitment to the program's longstanding goal of enhancing expertise in consumer law, evolving evidence issues, and immigration law. It has now been 7 years since an attorney has received comprehensive live legal education in immigration law which is vital in ethically serving the large number of international students using office services.
Identify the Student Affairs Strategic Theme Goal #3 is aligned with.
J. Human Resources
Goal #3 How it will be achieved & timeline:
- In 2023 one attorney will attend the American Immigration Lawyers Association national continuing legal education conference and earn credits.
- One attorney will attend live or remotely the National Consumer Law continuing legal education conference and earn credits. (Fall 2022)
- One or more attorneys will attend the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers annual Making Sense of Science (evidence) continuing legal education curriculum/conference. (Spring 2023).
Goal #3 Metrics/Evidence:
Proof of CLE credits granted will be submitted to the director with a credit goal of 15 in Immigration and 12 in evidence and 15 in consumer law to be completed by June 30, 2023. Director will monitor ongoing continuing legal education for compliance with rules of the Supreme Court. Credits earning will be reported in next annual report and the the Dean of Students.

Optional: Do you have any additional annual goals that you would like to share?
Increase the number of document and in office guide translations by at least one additional language.

Download

The information on this page is also available to download as a pdf.

2021-2022 Annual Report (pdf)