Overview of Services

The Center for Student Legal Services provides legal advice and representation to Ohio University students. This means that we will assist students who have a legal issue, from advice to representing them in Athens courts. We provide services in both areas of law: criminal and civil.

Our non-profit organization works like legal insurance. You pay into the service every semester by paying your $12.00 legal service fee, listed as an option on your tuition bill. See our fee section for more information. Think of this as you would think of car insurance. You pay for car insurance in case you need it but you can’t receive the money back if you didn’t use it. If you pay the fee, you will have access to all of our services for the semester and there is no limit on the number of times you can use the service.

Our office is staffed by two licensed attorneys who are dedicated to serving the students of Ohio University. Your legal issue will never be handled by a law student, intern or law clerk. The students of Ohio University are very fortunate to have access to affordable legal services, since only a few universities in the country offer legal service programs.

The most common civil law issues we see involve housing or landlord issues for students who live off campus. We also see consumer law issues such as medical or credit card debt and fraud (please refer to our limitations on our services). The most common criminal law issues we see involve alcohol violations such as underage possession and/or consumption of alcohol, furnishing alcohol, DUI, etc. Please see our criminal, housing, and civil and consumer law sections for more information.

We also provide mediation and notary services. See our other services section for more information.

Our Mission

Our mission is to provide the students of Ohio University with quality, affordable legal services and to help students reach a satisfactory resolution for their issue so they can concentrate on their education. We also strive to educate students on their legal rights and responsibilities as citizens of their city, state and country. We want every student to be aware of their legal rights and responsibilities to lessen the chances of needing an attorney.

Our Philosophy

The Center for Student Legal Services does NOT condone or encourage violations of the law. We believe that students are adults who are capable of making their own choices and they should be informed of their legal rights and responsibilities before making choices that may be against the law. We cannot prevent students from violating the law, but we realize that  everyone makes mistakes and might need legal help in order to prevent one bad decision from jeopardizing their future. We also believe that students should be treated fairly and should be free from undue harassment.

This information does not constitute legal advice, nor is it intended as a substitute for legal advice.