Lifting the Burden: Law Student Debt as a Barrier to Public Service

Lifting the Burden:The Problem and Its Solutions28In 2002, a Committee of the New York State Bar Association completed a study bymail of New York public service employers, including government and legalservices. 36 Of the 29 responding agencies and programs, 64% reported that candidates’student loan debts impeded the ability to recruit well-qualified attorneys. The samepercentage reported that debts impeded their ability to retain attorneys earlier hired.Those that did not report such difficulties tended to be the federal and stategovernment agencies that paid higher salaries.Some public service employers report that they are unable to find any applicantswilling to work for them at the salaries they are able to pay. According to Michael P.Judge, the Public Defender for Los Angeles County, “It is common for new lawyers tobe encumbered by $80,000 to $100,000, and even more, in student loans uponpassing the Bar. The confluence of enormous student debt load and exceptionaldisparity in private practice salaries has created a dramatic negative impact on myoffice’s recruiting and retention efforts. In these past few years, I have seen far fewercandidates applying for positions with the Public Defender’s Office than previously.Due to high student debt, there have been more than a dozen vacancies during thepast few years, which have caused the Public Defender to be unable to handle morethan 10,000 cases.”Legal services offices, especially those in rural areas, also report difficulty inrecruiting and retaining lawyers. Consider the experience of Nebraska Legal Services:“Due to the skyrocketing student debt of recent law graduates, Nebraska LegalServices has faced serious challenges in recruiting and retaining staff attorneys,especially in rural parts of Nebraska,” according to Doug German, ExecutiveDirector of Nebraska Legal Services. German continues, “During the same timeperiod, Nebraska Legal Services has had attorney positions unfilled in our NorthPlatte and Scottsbluff offices for over two years. We have also experienced anincrease in attorney turnover, with a turnover rate of 60% over a two-year period.During the past two years, newly hired attorneys stayed for an average of 17months. It takes at least two years for an attorney to be effective. NebraskaLegal Services invests considerable time and resources into training andrecruiting attorneys. Our clients, and the communities in which they live, sufferwhen we don’t have the staff to meet their legal needs.”The more common claim of government agencies is not that they are unable tofind new attorneys at all. The buyer’s market for legal services is such that there arealmost always recent law graduates willing to work. The consequence of high debtsis rather that public service employers have a much smaller pool of applicants todraw upon than they otherwise would and that many of the most able potentialapplicants and the ones who are most committed to the mission of public service –the applicants with other employment opportunities – take private firm jobs instead.The additional consequence is that some of the most able attorneys who are alreadyworking for such employers choose to leave just at the point when they are contributingthe most.APPROACHES TO ALLEVIATING THE EDUCATIONAL DEBT PROBLEMThe Commission received testimony from the current generation of law students andrecent law graduates, which confirmed what a pivotal factor cumulative educationaldebt has become. The Commission repeatedly heard about the devastating impact ofhigh student debt on public service employers’ abilities to recruit and retain lawyers.Law students shared stories of abandoning their dreams of using their legal skills tohelp their communities by working as a prosecutor or legal services lawyer because oftheir inability to make ends meet, while earning lower salaries and trying to satisfy36New York State Bar Association Special Committee on Student Loan Assistance for the Public Interest,Attracting Qualified Attorneys to Public Service, June 2002.