Feature
Resolutions 111A and 111B - Will They Help Law Students? By Rebecca E. Neely According to the August 24 th usnews.com article, ‘’ABA Addresses Law Graduates’ Job, Debt Woes’’, the American Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division recently proposed Resolutions 111A and 111B at the ABA’s annual meeting. 111A addresses the huge amount of debts law students incur, and 111B deals with improving the reporting of employment statistics, post-graduation.
As the cost of a college education has skyrocketed over the past several decades, the goal of 111A is to provide debt relief through federal law provisions. 111A requests Congress and commercial lenders to, among other things, give extensions on repayment terms, make different types of loan repayment assistance possible, including repayment based on income levels, and consolidation, and ‘’create loan forgiveness programs for public service lawyers similar to the Direct Loan Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program authorized by Congress for health care professionals in the Higher Education Opportunity Act.’’ Additionally, 111A seeks to increase or do away with the ‘’income levels associated with the federal income tax deduction for interest paid on student loans.’’ Going hand in hand with the issue of student loan debt, 111B proposes that both law schools and the legal profession be held accountable for providing future and current law students with more accurate employment and earning potential. Per the article, there is a huge disparity ‘’between law students’ ‘perception’ of their employment prospects upon completion of their law school education, and the ‘reality’ of what law students achieve.’’
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Specifically, 111B strongly recommends ABA-Approved Law Schools to report graduates’ employment, and whether it is full or part time, as well as if it is in the legal or another profession, and, if it permanent or temporary. As well, 111B calls for more data on the cost associated with a legal education, and that includes average cost of living while attending school. 111B calls for this information to be made known online, in acceptance notices, and catalogues. While the House of Delegates passed both 111A and 111B, they are not binding, but are considered a helpful first step in addressing these critical issues facing law students. The ABA’s Young Lawyer Division is the largest of its kind in the world, with over 150,000 members and 300 affiliated groups, per the ABA website. The usnews.com article is sponsored by Equal Justice Works, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded nearly 25 years ago by law students, ‘’dedicated to creating a just society by mobilizing the next generation of lawyers committed to equal justice’’, according to information at the organization’s website.
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