Legal Issues For Graduate Students: What Can Grad Students Do To Protect Themselves?

Being involved in legal issues is a struggle but the challenge is even more magnified for graduate students. These individuals have to deal with complex and tedious court proceedings while juggling their academics, professional and personal life.

So, what can grad students do protect themselves from this? Inside Higher Ed looks into the most common legal issues for graduate students.

Leading the list of potential legal issues graduate students face is a lease problem with landlords. Since graduate students are still not earning as much money as they could if they were full-fledged professionals, every cent that comes out of their pocket matters. In particular, it's critical for graduate students to get back the security deposits they've made on a lease, which can sometimes be not quite simple with some landlords.

Divorce is also another common legal issue for graduate students, which doesn't come cheap for someone subsisting on a student-professional budget. It's a lot more complicated when there are children involved as the process of obtaining a divorce can be time-consuming and disruptive, when there are already so much on a grad student's plate.

Contract or labor disputes are also common legal issues for graduate students. This is especially true for those who work on delivering intellectual property or developing products with trademarks and patents under the guise of assisting graduate students.

One way for graduate students to protect themselves from being embroiled in a legal hitch is to read the fine line carefully and do their diligent research before entering into any agreement - be it about lease or opportunities. Be discerning when picking prospects, grants and other offers as some of these might not beneficial in the long run. For insights, consult with other grad students of higher status, such as a fellow or junior faculty member, according to Psychology Today.

To protect themselves or do away with hefty private attorney's fees, graduate students could actually get assistance via Student Legal Services (SLS). Over 100 universities have its own SLS department, such as SLS University of Iowa, SLS Ohio State University and SLS University of Michigan. Check with your local campus.