Touro Law Center has a long-standing commitment to support its graduates who choose to pursue careers in the public interest.  Consistent with this commitment, the Law School has created a Loan Repayment Assistance Fund. The Fund has been designed to offer graduates, who work full-time in the public interest, assistance with the repayment of loans used to finance their legal education.  Because the endowment for the program is still relatively small and we expect applications to be relatively high, awards will, of necessity, reflect financial reality. Grants to recipients may be no more than $1,000 to $2,000 per year but have been as high as $3,000 to $4,000 per year.  As the endowment continues to grow, the grants will be adjusted accordingly.

Who Qualifies
Touro Law Center graduates who work full time (35 hours or more each week) in public interest legal employment whose annual salary does not exceed $50,000 per year. Public interest legal employment, for purposes of this Program, is defined as legal work performed while engaged in poverty law, civil rights law or charitable organization representation. This definition includes legal work affecting broad areas of public concern including the legal rights of consumers, the elderly, minorities, the poor, and groups whose legal rights are not otherwise adequately represented and who traditionally lack access to the courts.

Poverty law includes legal services in civil and criminal matters on behalf a client who lacks the financial resources to compensate private counsel.

Civil rights law includes legal representation involving the rights of an individual in whom society has a special interest in protecting.

Charitable organization representation includes legal service to charitable, religious, civic, governmental and educational institutions in matters in furtherance of their organizational purpose, where the payment of customary legal fees would be otherwise inappropriate or impossible. 

Any Touro graduate may apply regardless of his/her year of graduation.  Prior award recipients are eligible to apply in subsequent years. Debt qualifying for loan repayment awards consist of all educational debt financed through the Law School Office of Student Financial Services (Stafford, LAL, LSL, Grad Plus, Perkins, other private educational student loans).

To Apply
Grants will be awarded on a competitive and need basis.  Applications should be made annually by December 1 for consideration in the fall and disbursement by the first quarter of the following year. A short essay addressing the applicant’s commitment to public interest law and need for loan repayment assistance is required.  The Law Center reserves the right to ask for a copy of the applicant’s most recent federal income tax form, a letter from the employer stating position and current salary, copies of bills for all loans listed on the application, and copies of the most recent canceled checks sent in payment for all loans listed on the application.