As an ASU legal adviser who offers free legal advice to students, David Swain once helped a student with “a little tax problem.” The IRS came after her for more than $1 million.

The student’s ex-husband was in federal prison and had allegedly not reported a significant amount of income from an illegal revenue stream.

The IRS demanded the student pay approximately $1.5 million in back taxes because she had had a signature on a tax return with her former husband, said Swain, ASU’s student legal advisor.

“She was trying to get a new life for herself,” he said. “She didn’t have any money … There was no way she could pay anything.”

Swain said the legal consultation that he was able to provide helped persuade the IRS that the student was not responsible for the taxes.

Swain has worked for about 12 years in the ASU Student Legal Assistance Office, which offers free legal assistance to any student at any campus. During that time, he has helped students in cases ranging from inconsistencies in medical insurance contracts to immigration issues.

Some of the common cases Swain works with involve legal issues relating to housing troubles, criminal accusations and even entrepreneurial and partnership-type situations, such as students who are trying to launch a business. Last year, his office had about 1,400 appointments.

None of the students Swain has worked with could be reached for this story.

While the Arizona Board of Regents’ policy prevents him from representing students in court, he can offer them free legal advice, refer them to the appropriate legal resources, or simply examine the case and write a letter - which can be enough to settle the issue, he said.

The most common cases Swain sees involve landlord and tenant issues, and he said there appears to be patterns in the cases he sees.

“I think a lot of our international students get taken advantage of,” he said.

Approximately 20 to 25 percent of the students who come to the office are international students, he said. According to ASU’s Web site, about 3 percent of the University’s students are international.

In some of the cases involving international students, a third party has taken advantage of someone from another country and culture who might be more susceptible to fraud, he said.

Swain said he saw one student who had a hole in his bathroom ceiling that his landlord refused to fix. The student had been without heating or air conditioning for about a year.

“He’s from another culture,” Swain said of the student. “He didn’t know … Talk about taking advantage of somebody.”

After Swain sent the landlord a letter, the problems were fixed within about a week.

Reach the reporter at matt.culbertson@asu.edu