Letter to Biden Transition Team

Our Report highlights the many financial pressures faced by attorneys throughout the Commonwealth. Student debit is one of them. Fortunately, attorneys who pursue public service practice and are employed by a non-profit (or otherwise qualifying agency), may be able eligible for loan forgiveness through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness statute. However, a particular group of attorneys in Massachusetts, private bar advocates or counsel, who provide representation in cases in which an indigent person has a constitutional or statutory right to representation, are not eligible for loan forgiveness despite their providing the same public services for the same needy populations as attorneys employed by the Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS) as well as other public service organizations.

Our Report shed some light on this issue, but it has since been drawn out further through a recent pilot loan assistance program. Through that program, we provided student loan education and financial coaching to lawyers. This particular issue among private bar advocates and counsel continues to be a focal point of many attorneys’ concerns.

After meeting with a variety of student loan experts and advocates, we drafted a letter to the Biden Education Transition Team to request that the new Secretary of Education pursue a negotiated rule making process on Public Service Loan Forgiveness to redefine qualifying public service employment more broadly. Our position is that the resulting regulations should allow workers performing a statutory public service function full-time, such as public interest law services, under the direction of a qualified public service employer, such as CPCS, to participate in Public Service Loan Forgiveness.

CPCS itself, along with a number of other entities joined in signing our letter. We expect to continue to pursue this worthy cause and invite others to join us.

Here is our letter to the Biden Transition Team.

Here is a link to a Mass Lawyers Weekly Editorial reporting on our letter.