University of Texas - Cactus Yearbook

“Students ' Attorney Since June 1970 the office of the Students ' Attor- ney has provided legal advice and services to Uni- versity students. The office is currently staffed by two attorneys, Frank Ivy and Martin Underwood, both UT Law School graduates. Ivy has been in the office for three and one-half years while Underwood entered the office in September. Ivy and Under- wood supervise and train 26 law clerks, who are second or third year law students at the University. The office handles approximately 100 new cases a week dealing with a wide range of problems. The most common complaints are landlord-tenant problems, consumer problems and automobile acci- dents. It has been estimated that 50 percent of the students who are here for four years use this office or have used this service at least once. The proposal to eliminate mandatory student funding of the Students ' Attorney office came up again this year. President Rogers appointed a stu- dent-faculty committee to research this matter. The committee decided there was no other option to replace the mandatory fee. They found the office to be effectively and efficiently operating and widely used by students. Ivy stated, " Given the amount of monetary input, the amount of legal output is pro- portionally higher than any other office I know of. " The committee recommended the addition of an- other attorney to the office. At the present time the office is located in the basement of the Speech Building. Plans to renovate the office have been confirmed and Ivy says they hope to increase the interviewing rooms from two to seven. Frank Ivy and Martin Underwood, Students ' Attorneys Students ' Attorney 187 ”