[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 63 (Thursday, April 19, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4758-S4759]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. HARKIN:
  S. 1167. A bill to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 in order to 
provide funding for student loan repayment for civil legal assistance 
attorneys; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, today I am introducing the Legal Aid 
Attorney Loan Repayment Act. This important legislation is critical to 
ensuring that basic civil liberties are protected for all of our 
citizens. Our promise of ``equal justice under law'' rings hollow if 
those who are most vulnerable are denied access to representation. 
Legal Aid attorneys across the country protect the safety, security, 
and health of low-income citizens. When a senior citizen is the victim 
of a financial scam, when a family faces the loss of their home, or, 
all too often, when a woman

[[Page S4759]]

seeks protection from abuse, Legal Aid is there to help them. Legal Aid 
attorneys are critical to ensuring that poverty is not a barrier to 
accessing the justice system.
  Despite the importance of the services they provide, almost half of 
the eligible people seeking assistance from Legal Aid are being turned 
away because of a lack of funding. Additional qualified and experienced 
attorneys would alleviate some of the shortages facing Legal Aid.
  I started my legal career as a legal service lawyer, and it is an 
experience that I will never forget. It helped shape many of my views 
about how government can most effectively help those in need. Working 
as a Legal Aid attorney is one of the most rewarding career choices a 
young lawyer can make.
  Unfortunately, these days, it's harder and harder for newly minted 
lawyers to make the choice that I made to work for Legal Aid. The 
average starting salary for a Legal Aid lawyer is now $35,000. But the 
average annual loan repayment burden for a new law school graduate is 
$12,000! Many law graduates who are able to take positions with Legal 
Aid end up leaving after two or three years because their debt is too 
burdensome. They leave at a time when they have gained the necessary 
experience to provide valuable services to low-income clients, creating 
a revolving door of inexperienced lawyers within Legal Aid services.
  That is why I am introducing this bill to provide a loan-repayment 
program for new law graduates who chose to work for Legal Aid. Such 
programs are available for Federal prosecutors and other Federal 
employees. But, for Legal Aid attorneys--who have the lowest incomes--
there is not adequate access to loan-repayment programs. Estimates 
suggest that there are fewer than 2,000 attorneys who would need the 
assistance of such a program. This bill builds on existing loan-
repayment and retention programs for lawyers in other fields by 
providing partial loan-repayment assistance to full time civil legal 
assistance lawyers. Recipients who receive the loan-repayment 
assistance must commit to a minimum of three years of service. And the 
bill prioritizes awards for those who have practiced public service law 
with less than five years of experience. This program is critical to 
ensure that lawyers who want to commit to public service are able to do 
so.
  We have a responsibility to ensure that all citizens have appropriate 
protection under the law. By establishing a loan-repayment program, 
Legal Aid programs are better able to attract and retain qualified 
personnel. I urge my colleagues to support this critical legislation to 
reduce the barriers to public service and protect access to legal 
representation for all of our citizens.
                                 ______