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

ABA Policy• Developed policy pertaining to loan repayment for consideration by the House ofDelegates. The Commission submitted Reports 300 A and 300 B (student loanresolutions) to the House of Delegates at the 2002 ABA Mid Year Meeting. TheHouse adopted both resolutions, which were co-sponsored by a number of otherABA entities• Developed policy reaffirming the ABA’s support for LRAPs and other programsdesigned to facilitate law graduates’ entry and retention in public service legalcareers. The ABA House of Delegates will consider this recommendation when itmeets in August 2003Educational and Outreach Efforts• Developed and participated in a number of national panels designed to educatemembers of the bar, public interest legal community and others about loanrepayment assistance programs. Some of these conferences include the 2002 and2003 ABA Mid Year Meeting, 2001 and 2002 National Legal Aid and DefenderAssociation Annual Meeting, 2002 and 2003 ABA/NLADA Equal JusticeConference, 2003 National Association for Law Placement Annual Meeting, 2001and 2003 Equal Justice Works Annual Career Fair and Conference and 2002 and2003 National Conference of Bar Presidents Workshops at the ABA Annual Meeting• Developed a website, www.abalegalservices.org/lrap, which includes informationabout the Commission’s projects and other resources• Sponsored a national discussion list serv of persons interested in loan repayment.Participants include law school faculty and administrators, state bar leaders andstaff, state loan repayment assistance program administrators, legal services staffand board members and others interested in this issue. The list serv is managedthrough the ABA's network.57Appendix