[CHICAGO, IL] – Legislation to create a student loan repayment program for law school graduates who commit to serve as criminal prosecutors or public defenders will soon be signed into law, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) said today.  Durbin’s legislation, the John R. Justice Prosecutors and Defenders Incentive Act, was included in a Higher Education Act reauthorization bill which passed the Senate and House by overwhelming margins late last week and is now on its way to the President’s desk. 

Durbin’s bill is named for the late John R. Justice, former president of the National District Attorneys Association and a champion of efforts to encourage law school graduates to work in public service.  Durbin’s legislation had 40 bipartisan Senate cosponsors, and is considered “the highest priority for criminal prosecutors and defenders.” 

With the average law graduate carrying a staggering amount of student loan debt –$87,906 for those who attended private law schools, and $57,170 for public schools – Durbin’s bill will establish a student loan repayment option for state and local prosecutors and state, local and federal public defenders who agree to serve for a minimum of three years.  Federal prosecutors are already eligible for loan relief through existing federal programs.

“This legislation will go a long way toward helping prosecutor and public defender offices hire and retain good lawyers,” said Durbin.  “With starting salaries in a prosecutor’s or public defender’s office 3 to 4 times smaller than starting salaries in private law firms, mortgage-size student loan debt is a barrier to public service.  When the public sector can no longer attract new professionals or keep experienced ones the federal government has a responsibility to step in.  This legislation will help make public service law an affordable option for talented, experienced lawyers who want to work in the criminal justice system.”

Durbin cited the contrast between the loan burdens carried by today's law school graduates and the entry-level salaries for prosecutors and public defenders as evidence of the need for relief.   More than 80% of law students borrow to pay for their law degree, and the amount borrowed by many students exceeds $100,000.  Many law graduates also carry unpaid debt from their undergraduate studies.  At the same time, the median starting salary for state and local prosecutors and public defenders is approximately $45,000.   By comparison, in many private law firms offer starting salaries for attorneys that are over $160,000.

From an employer’s perspective, low salaries and high debt make it extremely difficult to recruit and retain attorneys in prosecutor and public defender offices.  In a recent Department of Justice survey, over a third of prosecutors’ offices nationwide reported problems with keeping attorneys on staff, and over 60 percent of prosecutors’ offices that serve populations of 250,000 or more reported problems with attorney retention.  Another recent survey found that over 60 percent of state and local public defender offices reported difficulty in attorney recruitment and retention.

“Student loan repayment for prosecutors will provide an incentive for qualified attorneys to join prosecutors’ offices,” said Joseph Cassilly, President of the National District Attorneys Association.  “The recruitment of qualified attorneys and the retention of experienced and trained prosecutors will ensure that crime victims receive the highest caliber of representation.”

"We thank Senator Durbin for ensuring that the hardworking defense lawyers who protect due process in our nation's courtrooms are not forced into higher paying jobs due to school loans,” said Carmen Hernandez, President of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.  “The public will benefit tremendously from this bill, which will decrease turnover in prosecutors' and public defenders' offices and improve the handling of criminal cases."

Durbin's proposal is modeled after a student loan repayment program currently available to federal employees and federal prosecutors.  Like the federal employee program, attorneys eligible for loan repayment could have up to $10,000 per year of student loan debt repaid.  Loan repayments are capped at a maximum of $60,000 per individual.

Durbin’s legislation is supported by the National District Attorneys Association, the National Association of Prosecutor Coordinators, the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the American Council of Chief Defenders, the National Juvenile Defender Center, the American Bar Association, the Conference of Chief Judges, and the American Law Deans Association.