 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 
|
|
 |
||||||||||||||||
|
Bar News - February 7, 2003 Suffolk Alumni Organize to Aid Public Service Lawyers NEARLY TRIPLING THE typical turnout at a New Hampshire alumni dinner, Suffolk Law School graduates at the Midyear Meeting launched a campaign to raise money to provide loan repayment assistance to graduates working in public service positions. The program, modeled on a pioneering loan assistance program developed by the New Hampshire Bar Foundation, aims to assist graduates who are having difficulty paying their school loans while working for civil legal aid organizations such as the Legal Advice & Referral Center, Disability Rights Center, New Hampshire Legal Assistance, or the Pro Bono program, or for county attorney's offices or the Public Defender, where salaries are lower than what lawyers with comparable experience are paid in the private sector. The programs help students stay current with their loan obligations during their course of their employment in the public sector, and helps prevents the "brain drain" of lawyers leaving public service because of their inability to meet their loan obligations. The New Hampshire Bar Foundation is assisting in the effort, which was the brainchild of NH Probate Court Administrative Judge John Maher. A working group including retired US District Court Judge Martin Loughlin, now in private practice in Manchester, Roger Phillips, Jennifer Parent and Jennifer Sobel is working on the effort in collaboration with Suffolk Law School Dean Robert H. Smith. Abramson praised the law school for supporting the effort. "Their support for this home-grown program is commendable," said Abramson. There are nearly 400 NH Bar members who are Suffolk Law alumni. At the law school dinner, two attorneys now working in public service - Laurel O'Connor of NH Legal Assistance and Dorothy Graham of the NH Public Defender's Office in Manchester - spoke on behalf of their colleagues about why they do this kind of work, and also about the financial sacrifices that accompany this choice. Graham spoke movingly about how her excitement at working at a "real job" was tempered by the realization that it was so difficult to pay her loans and her expenses, and how on more than one occasion she had to turn to her parents for financial help. Abramson said the Suffolk NH alumni loan assistance program, which the Bar Foundation will administer, is in its early stages, but has progressed steadily since Maher and the other Suffolk alumni began working on the project earlier this year. Now that the program has been kicked off at the Midyear Meeting, letters and personal contacts to alumni will begin to initiate the fundraising portion of the effort.
|
|
Home | About the Bar | For Members | For the Public | Legal Links | Publications | Online Store New Hampshire Bar Association |
