PENNSYLVANIA INTEREST ON LAWYER

A loan repayment assistance program (lrap) was established to help legal services organizations that provide civil legal assistance to poor pennsylvanians without charge, attract and retain qualified attorneys. The organizations were finding that attorneys, who wished to be employed at public service, could not afford to do so because od the very large amount of student debt they had accumulated. A grant was made to the pennsylvania bar foundation (pbf), a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization, to administer the lrap. Attorneys who are employed by any iolta funded qualified legal aid organization can apply to the pbf for a forgivable loan and may participate for up to 10 years. The amount of annual assistance will depend primarily on the amount of available funding and the number of qualifying attorney applicants. An attorney will be eligible for lrap assistance if: (i) his/her total current annual gross salary is less than or equal to $75,000; or (ii) if his/her annual net debt service is greater than or equal to 10% of his/her total current annual gross salary, regardless of the total annual salary amount. They must also remain employed in good standing with the legal aid organization for one full year and remain in good standing with their lenders for all of their student loans.