22nd Annual USLSA-Western Region Continuing Legal Education
Round the Region: Individual Case Studies
22nd CLE – San Francisco, Jan. 5-8, 2016
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
1. UCLA, Liz Kemper – Handling Turnover & Change in a Law Office
a. Longest serving Legal services director in country
b. Increased Title IX coverage and sex assault cases led to large increase in cases which
was hard to handle after staff retirements
c. Catherine Sabatini retired after 19 years; new attorney began Oct. 28th, Kristin Lu, who
wasn't able to attend this year
d. Reorganization of student affairs; vice chancellor retired last year and entire student
affairs division is being reorganized; Legal Services now reports to DOS; how to best
educate new dean about role of office and services provided to students
e. Cleary reports and confidentiality of students continues to be an issue that requires
advocacy from legal bar to education department
f. DACA – brought immigration lawyers from community to volunteer and give 30 minute
consults on immigration to students on issues beyond DACA
2. Univ. of North Texas, Kathryn McCauley – Money & Space: How to Get More
a. 37k student population
b. SLS office is 1 full time, 1 admin, 1 GA, and 3 work study students
c. Lobbying hard for another attorney from student fee committee
d. Given space in asbestos filled building! Finally got moved to bigger space in a new
building with private entrance for students to provide greater confidentiality.
e. Lawyer had to get hip surgery two years in a row which put her on leave and affected
her intake numbers, which makes it hard to show need b/c numbers went down rather
than increased
f. Clear communication with lawyer's boss in college administration helped avoid
problems with number decrease
g. Case about severe identity theft by parent REQUIRED filing of suit b/c letters wouldn't
get student relief
i. Testimonial letters from students who were helped
h. Changing student population
i. Veteran stopped paying HOA dues and was sued
ii. Campus carry is coming! HUGE issues with new law and how it is being rolled
out across Texas.
iii. Sexual Assault cases continue to grow; new federal funding brought sex assault
counselor to campus who refers lots of cases to legal office
3. University of Illinois, Champagne – Urbana, Tom Betz, Government Law Office Budgeting
a. How to plan ahead for three year cycle on two year budget; good planning requires
awareness of state government budget plans and legislative cycles
b. Illinois state budget shortfalls required intense planning and asset reallocation
c. How to choose among healthcare plans for employees to maximize reimbursement
d. Pricing schemes for legal research databases vs. per case research
e. Demonstrate educational outcomes to improve success rate on budget requests
i. Immigration and LGBT 20 page presentation to budget committee required
extensive research on student retention, degree attainment, and enrollment but
showed that legal services is a positive force to retain these students.
ii. Show how your legal office educates students and protects them from challenges
to completing their degree.
22nd Annual USLSA-Western Region Continuing Legal Education
Round the Region: Individual Case Studies
22nd CLE – San Francisco, Jan. 5-8, 2016
iii. Assessment can be useful to prove educational results. Show positive satisfaction
from student clients through surveys.
4. Texas State University, Shannon Fitzpatrick – Transgender Changes & Emergency Insurance
Claims
a. Student population has grown by 1000 students on average for each of last 17 years,
currently at 38,000
i. Growing proportion of international students for new engineering program; how
to reallocate legal services to assist foreign students
ii. Cultural awareness of home country and how to acclimate student
b. Preparing for Transgender legal issues on campus following the Supreme Court decision
i. Birth certificate changes, name changes, getting gender changed within school
records, housing accommodations
ii. Updated forms with ambiguous gender pronouns
iii. Represented petitioner in the first granted same-sex divorce in Texas
(historic legal event!)
c. Flooding and emergency services = emergency legal needs & insurance scams
i. Halloween floods caused all types of housing and property damage issues in
central Texas.
ii. Landlords charged students $200 per parking pass AFTER THEIER CARS
WERE SWEPT AWAY BY FLOODWATERS and the parking pass inside the
car was not returned. Legal services got them to reverse those charges.
iii. Insurance sold to students by landlords was called “renter's insurance” but it only
protected the LL’s property, NOT the renter's. This was an illegal insurance sale
without a license, which is against the law in Texas. Legal services now gives
presentations on insurance issues as part of their residence hall presentation
series.
5. West Virginia University, Carrie Showalter - Providing Remote Legal Services, WV Attorney
General v. Campus Crest Communities, Inc.
a. 30k enrolled students, new president on campus from Ohio State whose goal is to grow
campus population on satellite campuses. Challenges to providing services for students
on satellite campuses required creative solutions for remote students.
i. Law school clinical programs help assist students residing out of county b/c law
office rules prohibit Campus Office from helping out of county students
ii. Law school is separated from campus so this helps students get ties to main
campus and provide educational opportunities for law students
iii. Expanded mediation program in law school by partnering with school and
advertising it in law services office. Also reduces expense to student b/c no
filing fee or settlement costs through court system.
b. Conflicts of interest when housing is from university
i. College apartment complexes failed to open on time but her office could not help
those 4000 students b/c it's partly owned by university; how to politely explain to
students and parents who can assist them. How to direct students to appropriate
forums without breaching duty.
ii. Emergency housing is a cooperative project between university and private
groups and students are being charged for emergency housing services; her
office is working to help those fees be waived
iii. West Virginia Attorney General vs. Campus Crest Communities, Inc. DBA
22nd Annual USLSA-Western Region Continuing Legal Education
Round the Region: Individual Case Studies
22nd CLE – San Francisco, Jan. 5-8, 2016
Copper Beech Apartment complex – biggest lawsuit of the year; lease was sent to
attorney general every year for four years, AG finally filed suit against Copper
Beach on the redecorating fees and ridiculous charges in student leases
1. AG is reviewing under LL/T law and consumer protection; taking them
on over return check fees, redecorating fees, late fees, mandatory carpet
cleaning, etc.
2. AG finally put in parameters on timeline to return deposits and provide
itemization
3. This complex has 19 locations across the nation, including in San Marcos
and Clovis
6. Texas Tech University, Brit Swanson – Providing Legal Services to Low Income Students
a. Growing population of low income students - High percentage of shoplifting cases at
Walmart with self checkout.
b. Immigration cases and DACA cases – reached out to community for immigration legal
assistance but Lubbock is too far from federal courts to find much help; seeking ways to
assist those students with limited local resources
c. Sex trafficking – students from low income areas at risk; one young woman sought help
for escape from immigrant parents and dangerous situation; Texas laws continue to be
passed regarding protection of young women in this situation but laws are new and
resources are not yet available; office is working hard with state bar to find benefits and
assistance for students
d. Process has been hampered b/c legal research took much longer due to budget cuts and
lack of online research databases. School is becoming a Hispanic serving institution and
trying to get grant money to assist with this and other issues.
e. Brought housing complex into compliance with Texas law by threatening suit on unsafe
conditions; complex finally complied and installed keyless deadbolts throughout
complex as required by the Texas Property Code (huge win for student safety)