Students who have problems with landlords will soon have no reason to be down in the dumps.The new Legal Services Clinic at Ohio State is set to begin legal counseling, representation and education for all students on June 1.The new clinic will be next to the Cornerstone Bar, 1886 N. High St., and will initially specialize in tenant-landlord legal services until student body response and approval indicates more services are needed.Chirag Patel, a senior pre-medicine major and former 1998 candidate for USG president, began the project two years ago.”I was looking around at off-campus housing conditions. In some cases students were without heat, some faced hazardous living conditions and in general, were being taken advantage of by landlords. I thought it would be a great idea to help the students obtain legal help through the university since they have so many other expenses to worry about,” Patel said.He said a 1971 law created a legal problem for the project. The law stated that state funds cannot be used to fund legal services for students, but Patel found a loophole which stated that the funds could be used for legal education.That is when the educational portion of the clinic was created. Students will be able to take part in lectures, seminars and workshops to learn about their legal rights and responsibilities.Landlord-tenant issues to be tackled by the new clinic include repairs, security deposits, evictions and lease interpretations.Katie Flanagan, a senior math major, knows all too well about campus landlord problems.”My previous landlord was really unbearable. Whenever I called with a problem, they were always irksome,” she said.”My friend burned a hole in the carpet with an iron and was forced to pay for the damage. We found out later that the damage was never repaired! Security deposits are also always a huge problem for the students down here,” Flanagan said. In the future the clinic hopes to provide these additional services:• Consumer: automobile purchases and repairs, credit problems, warranty questions, contracts, student loans.• Collection: collection of judgments through garnishments.• Wills and trusts: preparation of simple wills, trusts and living wills.• Family law: simple dissolutions, child support and domestic abuse.• Immigration: change of status.• Misdemeanor Criminal: defense for misdemeanor criminals, misdemeanor and aggravated traffic matters.• Administrative: employment compensation rights, veterans benefits, civil service benefits and discrimination issues.• Miscellaneous: name change, notary public, document verification and power of attorney.Patel said the budget for the new clinic will make allowances for one full-time attorney who will initially also act as the project director, a paralegal secretary and several externs. The externs will perform research such as looking up cases and providing educational materials. Legal externs are different from interns in that they work only for money, not school credit.”The best thing about the service is that it will be free for all students whether they are graduate or undergraduate,” Patel said.Attorney fees can run anywhere from $85 to $120 an hour.OSU President William “Brit” Kirwan said the new clinic could really help with the revitalization of the campus area.”The creation of a legal services clinic at OSU is an issue of great concern for the university. From my experience at the University of Maryland where a similar service is offered, I found it to be of enormous benefit to the students,” he said.Other schools in Ohio offering such services include Ohio University and the University of Toledo.