2023-2024 Annual Summary Report

Since the last annual report, the Student Legal Service program has undergone massive personnel changes, the most significant in more than 30 years. Upon submission of this report only two of five staff members working last year will remain due to three retirements. The longtime Office Administrator, a 35-year veteran staff attorney, and as of August 1, 2024, the Director of 38 years have retired. It is to the great credit of the staff and the Student Legal Services Advisory Board that job searches were conducted with strong candidates being selected. Five-year staff attorney Anthony Allegretti was trained this past year to succeed Director Thomas Betz. On January 12, 2024, Director Betz received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the United States Student Legal Service Association-Western Region in New Orleans, Louisiana. The transitions have been remarkably successful as the program enters a new era of greater use of technology to enhance delivery of services. There remain the three bedrock purposes of the program that are designed to enable students/clients to make appropriate decisions in to resolve their legal matters or to educate themselves to prevent untoward actions.

Consultations and Contacts

SLS Strategic Plan, Section 1, Goal 1. “Provide quality legal advice and counseling to students regarding their rights and responsibilities.” This branch of the service is intended to guide students toward the decisional skills of becoming their own advocate in a world after graduation where inexpensive legal services are not routinely available.

  • July 1,2024 to February 1, 2024, 1,001 unique students received consultation or representation. The implementation of CLIO/Themis case management has changed the usage methodology, which will be noted in the next point.
  • February 1, to June 30, 2024, 490 students received consultation or representation services which is a combined total usage of 1,491.
  • A significant minority of users of the services were international students. The CLIO system did not retroactively allow retrieval of exact numbers but going forward this metric will be more accurately tracked as in past demographic reports.
  • 15% of those responding to our assessment indicated that without service they would have considered leaving school.
  • Assessment measures indicated that 56% of respondents believed services enhanced their ability to focus on studies.
  • 69% indicated they had a better understanding of the legal process, a valuable life skill post-graduation.

Preventive Legal Education and Access to Legal Information

SLS Strategic Plan, Section 3. “Provide students with quality preventive legal education and programming that educates students about their rights and responsibilities.” studentlegal.illinois.edu has been the major portal for students to access the office services. The website provides basic and in-depth preventive educational materials which in many cases, solves the student’s legal issue without formal appointment. The website section Schedule an Appointment directs students to the CLIO/Themis two-part scheduling system which has dramatically streamlined the office intake system while potentially putting student eyes on legal based content.

  • 91,338 total hits on the website
  • 18,422 unique visitors to the website
  • Top three areas of access: Homepage, Intake, and Scheduling an appointment.
  • Top three substantive areas: Driving in Illinois, Deportation/Removal, and Tenant/Housing
  • 7 outreach/educational events
  • Daily Illini interview of Director regarding housing issues on and off campus
  • Update of Name Change process with narration.
  • Winter break guide
  • Pet contract regarding boarding pets with non-professionals
  • Truth in Renting
  • Panelist Alcohol Awareness sponsored by McKinley Health Center

Representation

Student Legal services Strategic Plan, Section 2. This prong of services is where counseling alone is not sufficient to resolve the student’s legal issue. The staff endeavor to educate students about how to handle their issue short of formal litigation e.g. assist in drafting demand letters/emails to landlords and reviewing content, how to dispute a collection demand, how to contact clerks outside of Champaign County to change court dates or process for paying fines via out of county websites. These daily examples are beyond routine counseling but not in the mode of litigation or formal entry of appearance in court by a staff attorney.

  • A significant minority of students had cases opened in categories ranging from landlord-tenant, consumer/collection, traffic, misdemeanor, name changes etc.

Assessment

Student Legal Service Plan Sections 1-7 contain various assessment approaches and metrics for success for each section.

  • Fall 2023 the office mentored an International LL.M intern from Nigeria and in Spring 2024 a student from Afghanistan. Pursuant to Section 7 they were evaluated by the director using the office created International Student Learning Outcome. Each intern achieved success.
  • Section 6 As of June 30, 2024, three staff attorneys reported sufficient continuing legal education credits to the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission of the Illinois Supreme Court. Director reviewed this with each staff attorney.
  • Section 1 In Spring semester an assessment survey was sent out using Fall semester intake emails. The results were generally positive whether for consultation, representation, or notary services:
    1. 64% strongly agreed or somewhat agreed that they felt better equipped to handle similar situations in the future.
    2. 15% strongly agreed or somewhat agreed that without legal help they would have considered leaving school.
    3. 47% had no or minimal understanding/knowledge of their legal issue. After receiving service 87% had moderate, significant, or expert understanding/knowledge of their legal situation.
    4. 87% of respondents strongly agreed or somewhat agreed that they were treated with respect by Student Legal Service staff.

Equity, Inclusion Justice

The program is a lifeline for students in civil matters such as eviction, landlord-tenant, consumer fraud, fair debt collection, and other matters were there may be disproportional impact with underrepresented students. There is little equity in the courts between unrepresented parties and those represented. Providing legal counsel to students allows the student to decrease the power imbalance whether in court or in dealing with landlords outside of the formal legal system. Staff attorneys adhere to Illinois Supreme Court Rule 794(d)(i) which requires continuing legal education in in Diversity and Inclusion which complements Student Affairs Strategic Plan, Goal 2 ci & iv. This reporting period attorneys took the following courses:

Rooting out Racial Bias, Combatting Bias in the Legal Profession, and The Influence of Unconscious Bias.

Goal Update

  • 100% There was a complete assessment and evaluation of the Student Legal Service Strategic Plan submitted to the advisory board to discuss and place on file Spring 2024.
  • 100% Two international LL.M. candidates were selected as interns, one for Fall and one for Spring semester. Each internship was successful.
  • 100% CLIO/Themis online scheduling system is fully active and in daily use.

Download

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

2023-2024 Annual Report (pdf)