Legal counsel is not one of the traditional student services offered to private college students in Chicago, but for those attending DePaul University, assistance for most routine legal problems can be found right on the university’s Lincoln Park Campus. The Student Legal Services Office at DePaul is an affordable legal resource that helps students with a range of legal problems including landlord/tenant and contract disputes, minor traffic violations, misdemeanor offenses, city ordinance violations, leases and minor business contracts.

“Our program is designed to provide high-quality legal services to DePaul students in support of students’ learning, success and development while at the university,” said the Rev. Thomas Croak, C.M., who directs the student legal aid program. “It counsels students on a range of legal matters and offers them representation in limited misdemeanor cases. We do not provide legal representation in court, but we do give referrals to competent, volunteer attorneys for in-court actions.”

The program was established in the summer of 2006 at the urging of DePaul’s Student Government Association. It does not represent students in such actions as divorce, felonies, bankruptcy or disputes with the university or student organizations. Legal services are free to full-time undergraduate students. Those enrolled part-time or in graduate programs pay $10 for each legal matter for which they receive assistance.

Working with a team of part-time, law student volunteers, Croak, who graduated from DePaul’s law school in 1991, has successfully represented students in a variety of cases. During its first year of operation, some 65 students were counseled or represented by the office. So far this academic year, the program has helped 21 additional clients.

“We’ve achieved some notable successes,” said Croak. “They include the nullification of a very disadvantageous sales contract for an automobile purchase by a student client; the compliance of a condo association with repairs for a student client’s residence and the prevention, at least temporarily, of an eviction of a student from his residence mid-quarter.”

While many large, state universities offer this type of legal resource to its students, DePaul is the only Catholic university in the country to do so, according to Croak. And, in the state of Illinois, Northwestern University is the only other private university that operates a legal program for its students. At DePaul, the program aims to provide students with a valuable resource while at the same time helping them become more astute about the legal system. “It is our goal to not only assist students with their legal issues but to also serve as a means by which students learn about their rights under the law,” said Croak.