Thanks to a provision in the Higher Education Act reauthorization bill more young lawyers might be able to remain in the public interest sector a little longer.
The bill, which passed both houses of Congress by an overwhelming majority last month, includes a provision that offers loan repayment funding for civil legal assistance and public defense attorneys.
If President Bush signs the bill into law, lawyers who commit to working in legal aid for at least three years will be able to have up to $40,000 of their student loans repaid.
Don Saunders, director of civil legal services for the National Legal Aid and Defender Association who worked on the bill with Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), says it is a “watershed for the future of public interest law.”
“The cost of a legal education is so expensive that even people in the public interest sector like nurses have a level of debt that is nothing like those who graduate from law school. We’re talking about well over $100,000 here. This bill makes it possible for a whole generation of public interest lawyers to remain in the public sector,” Saunders says.
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