The DC Bar Foundation announced the recipients of the midyear FY14 DC Poverty Lawyer Loan Repayment Assistance Program (DC LRAP). A total of $15,640 was awarded to nine civil legal services lawyers, who reside in DC and work for eligible employers that serve low-income, underrepresented DC residents.
“Many of these attorneys will devote their legal careers to serving the District’s low-income residents. These DC civil legal services lawyers can afford to work in public interest because they benefit from the law school education repayment awards they receive through DC LRAP,” said Imoni M. Washington, Director of Programs of the DC Bar Foundation.
These midyear DC LRAP recipients will receive an interest-free loan from the DC Bar Foundation to help pay their monthly law school student loan payments from July to December 2014, at which time these interest-free loans will be forgiven.
This is the eighth year the Council of the District of Columbia has appropriated funding for educational loan repayment assistance to lawyers who live and work in the District of Columbia and are employed in areas of civil legal practice that serve low-income DC residents. At the direction of the Council, and pursuant to a grant agreement with the District of Columbia’s Office of Victim Services, the DC Bar Foundation lends its expertise to the District by identifying, awarding, and monitoring the DC LRAP.
The DC Bar Foundation also runs a second loan repayment program, DCBF LRAP, for attorneys who work in the District and live in Maryland or Virginia. Applications for full-year DC LRAP and DCBF LRAP will be available in November 2014 to cover monthly law school loan payments for January to December 2015. For both of its loan repayment assistance programs, the Bar Foundation leverages additional resources through the pro bono services of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP. A team of volunteer paralegals and lawyers at the law firm provides stellar support to both loan repayment assistance programs.
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The District of Columbia Bar Foundation was established in 1977 to provide lawyers and law firms with an effective vehicle for fulfilling their ethical obligation to ensure that all residents of our community have access to competent legal representation by funding legal services for the underprivileged. The Foundation awards grants to DC legal services organizations, and administers a DC Poverty Lawyer Loan Repayment Assistance Program, and provides technical assistance and training to the District’s civil legal services providers.
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