Associated Student Government’s long-promised lawyer will begin holding office hours for students by the beginning of Winter Quarter, ASG President Jordan Heinz said Monday.
A search committee of students and administrators has selected a candidate and has been negotiating a contract for the past month, said Heinz, an Education senior.
“It’s just the normal contracting procedure,” he said.
Once hired, the lawyer probably will work on Norris University Center’s third floor two or three full days a week providing free advice to students on issues such as landlord-tenant relationships, drunken driving violations and parking tickets, Heinz said. She would work mostly during the day and some early evening hours, he said.
The ASG office has received more than a dozen requests from students for advice on landlord disputes and minor criminal infractions, such as traffic tickets and drug violations, Heinz said.
“I expected that — minor criminal issues and tenant issues,” he said.
Heinz said he plans to ask off-campus senators to spread the word about the lawyer, but ASG’s public relations committee has not begun publicizing the new services. He said the 10-week delay in hiring shouldn’t affect the success of the service.
ASG allocated $40,000 in funding for the current academic year to support the position, including salary and office support. About 20 percent of those funds will be used for office supplies such as furniture, law books and “things that a lawyer’s office needs to be able to operate,” Heinz said.
Any money not used by the end of Spring Quarter will go back into the Student Activities Fund, Heinz said, unless the next ASG president specifically requests a roll-over during Spring Quarter.
The hiring committee expected the lawyer to take a significant amount of time finishing the process, Heinz said.
“(For her), it’s not starting a service or changing something,” he said.
Although the hired lawyer would offer advice to students, she would not represent students in court, Heinz said.
Former ASG President Adam Humann, Weinberg ’01, led the effort to establish the lawyer position when the Legal Aid Office disbanded two years ago.
The office, a student-run organization, offered services that the new lawyer will provide.
