For JD graduates who accept public interest jobs and have educational debt, Stanford Law School will lend eligible applicants the funds to help meet their monthly educational loan payments. Loans are awarded on an annual basis. If the graduate remains in qualifying public interest employment for the full year, 100% of that loan is forgiven at the end of the calendar year.

Graduates must be employed in law-related positions in:

• Nonprofits (501(c)(3); 501(c)(4); 501(c)(5); or equivalent international entities);
• A government entity including federal, state, local, or multi-lateral (international), tribal nations and their subdivisions, and potentially a foreign government, upon review and approval by the LRAP Executive Committee;
• A campaign related to electing someone into a governmental office;
• Private employers (including self employment or term/contract employment), if at least fifty percent involves providing legal services on a pro bono, reduced, or court-awarded fee basis; or
• A public or private, nonprofit law school or university subdivision.

Examples of qualifying employment include:

• Staff or managing attorney positions at Bay Area Legal Aid, the Sierra Club, Pacific Legal Foundation, or Consensus Building Institute; executive director of the Legal Aid Association of California; SLS Public Interest Fellow at Youth Law Center; policy analyst at ChangeLab Solutions;
• General Counsel for the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs; Legislative Staff to Judiciary Committee in the U.S. Congress; Honors Attorney at U.S. or California Department of Justice; Assistant County Counsel; District Attorney; Public Defender; Law Fellow at the International Court of Justice;
• Policy Director of reelection campaign for office of governor;
• Associate at union-side law firm; self-employed attorney spending at least 50% or more of their time in court-appointed criminal defense cases; or
• Assistant Professor of Law, clinical supervising attorney, or public interest advisor in a law school career services office at a public or private, nonprofit law school; policy research associate at a university-affiliated think tank.

You may read more about qualified employment in the LRAP Program Terms provided above.

LRAP does not cover judicial clerkships unless they are immediately before eligible public interest employment. Graduates can qualify for LRAP benefits during their clerkship year(s) if they start a public interest position within 90 days after the clerkship ends. Graduates should register for LRAP when the clerkship year starts, as LRAP benefits cannot be awarded retroactively after the clerkship ends. Thus, graduates who are uncertain whether they will start their careers in public service immediately after their clerkship(s) should consider still registering for LRAP. If the graduate subsequently enters ineligible employment (e.g., a job with a corporate law firm), then LRAP benefits must be repaid to SLS with interest.

LRAP allows for two years of clerkships before qualifying employment. Once the graduate completes a full year of eligible public interest employment after the clerkship(s), the LRAP benefits granted during the clerkship year(s) and the subsequent public interest employment are forgiven. Graduates who seek to clerk for more than two years can petition the LRAP committee for approval. See the LRAP Program Terms for more details.

There is no income cap, but LRAP calculates benefits on a sliding scale. Participants are expected to contribute a larger portion of their debt payments when they earn more.

           

Adjusted Income	Participant Contribution
$75,000 or less	$0
$75,000 - $90,000	Participants will pay 25% of their salary over $75,000 and up to $90,000
$90,000 - $105,000	Graduates will pay $3,750 + 50% of their salary from $90,000 to $105,000.
$105,000 and above	Graduates will pay $11,250 plus 100% of their salary over $105,000.

As an example, here are some figures for participants who have $150,000 in outstanding debt on a 10 year payment plan. At this level of debt and a presumed 6.5% interest rate, graduates would owe the lender $20,439 per year. Note that LRAP also covers educational debt from undergraduate institutions and graduate institutions for degrees earned before law school graduation. Thus, some graduates have more debt and receive more funding from LRAP.

           

Adjusted Income	Annual Payment Due to Lender	Participant Contribution	Stanford's LRAP Contribution
$60,000	$20,439	$0	$20,439
$80,000	$20,439	$1,250	$19,189
$90,000	$20,439	$3,750	$16,689
$110,000	$20,439	$16,250	$4,189

Please use the Online Calculator to calculate actual benefits with additional variables (e.g., higher student debt, spousal income, dependents, etc.). Additional details are in the LRAP Program Terms.

Yes, spousal income (as well as assets) may affect your LRAP benefits. The adjusted gross income used will either be a) the individual income or b) half the joint income, whichever of the two is higher. If the spouse has educational loan payments, those will be subtracted from the spouse's annual income. Moreover, any substantial physical and financial assets over $200,000 will be included as income. See the LRAP Program Terms for more information on spousal income, children, assets and other factors that can adjust a graduate's income for the purpose of LRAP benefits.

Note that we do not consider the income or assets of unmarried household members/domestic partners. We rely on graduates' tax returns to verify participants' income.

The formula is 40 hours/(hours worked) x Salary = Adjusted Salary. For example, imagine a participant employed in a qualifying position for 20 hours per week at an annual salary of $40,000. Their "adjusted salary" is $80,000. Their contribution towards their need-based loans for the year would be 25% of $5,000 (the amount over $75,000), or $1,250.

Need-based student loans are covered. This means loans taken to meet eligible in-school expenses. Sometimes students choose to borrow funds in lieu of their "student contribution." Such amounts are not considered need-based and are not covered by LRAP. LRAP will cover need-based loans used to meet undergraduate, law school, and other graduate school requirements. Bar examination and examination preparation expenses are also eligible but capped at $10,000 per participant. See the LRAP Program Terms.

Graduates must complete one full year of eligible public interest employment to receive cancellation of that year's LRAP benefit. Graduates who work in public service for the first ten years after graduation are eligible to have 100% of their educational debt covered by LRAP.

A participant must enter the program within the first 5 years the January after graduation. Thereafter, a graduate may exit and re-enter the Program any time within ten years of graduation. The ten-year rule is not extended if a graduate begins participation in LRAP several years after graduation, engages in academic studies following Law School, or defers payment on student loans.

Each Fall, the Office of Financial Aid will issue new LRAP program guidelines and a new registration form. The timeline is set so that the Financial Aid staff can process applications and issue checks before payments are due to lenders in January. New members of LRAP need to complete the registration form and list their anticipated income for the following calendar year. Alumni who are already LRAP participants need to complete the registration form to continue their participation and also need to submit documentation (e.g., a federal tax return) verifying income for past LRAP benefits. Alumni who have changed jobs and wish to join LRAP may do so at any time of the year.

The Office of Financial Aid administers LRAP, but you can address general questions to Anna Wang, Associate Dean for Public Service and Public Interest Law via email or phone at 650-723-2519. If you have a specific question related to your personal situation (e.g., I'm planning to take parental leave, what do I need to do?), please contact the LRAP administrator via email.

As a woman of color and the first attorney in my family, LRAP gave me freedom to pursue a career in the nonprofit sector unburdened by the weight of law school debt. It enabled me to make choices that would have otherwise been impossible, and choose work based on my values rather than my debt. For that, I am grateful.

Ellie Dehghan, JD ’12

When I started law school, a wise person told me to write myself a note as a reminder of what inspired me to attend, and what I hoped to do upon graduation in service of that inspiration. It was a lofty proposition; at the time, I had little understanding of the practical demands that would soon set in, creating pressure to alter or at least defer those early dreams. For me (and so many others), LRAP was the bridge between inspiration and reality. It provided me with the security to take risks I may not have otherwise taken, and reach for things that were otherwise (practically speaking) unobtainable.Today, I work my dream job as an Assistant United States Attorney in Chicago. I prosecute leaders of violent drug cartels, elected officials who abuse the public trust, and sex traffickers who exploit children and young adults, to name a few. At the same time, I grapple with difficult issues of how to treat people equally under the law in a city that is racked with socioeconomic inequality and a history of racial discrimination, and a justice system that relies too heavily on incarceration over prevention and rehabilitation.

I don’t have the answers to many of the difficult questions I face at my job. But everyday, I am immersed within the very same issues that inspired me to go to law school. I get to at least try, however imperfectly, to live out the words I wrote to myself back in August 2008, when I first arrived in Palo Alto: “Do Justice.”

That note now hangs on my office wall, right above the cabinet where I keep my past LRAP applications, which is fitting. LRAP helped me get to where I dreamt of going.

Sean Franzblau, JD ’11
Assistant U.S. Attorney
U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Illinois

LRAP enabled me to start off my legal career without factoring in the cost of my loans. For the first few years of my public interest career working as a public defender in New Orleans, I paid essentially nothing towards my loans, thanks to the LRAP program. I am grateful to LRAP for allowing me to choose a career based on work that I am passionate about rather than based on what will pay enough towards my student loans.

Laura Bixby, JD ’14

As an LRAP programme ‘graduate’, I want to express just how grateful I am for the programme. LRAP is simply amazing and the impact cannot be overstated. It allows graduates like me to choose a career based on our passion to help others, rather than any financial concerns. For me, this meant forging a career in child rights law. In addition to helping me to achieve my professional goals, LRAP was flexible around my personal life – including my move back home to the UK and two sets of maternity leave. I have many friends from ’07 who also enjoyed building their families and households while on LRAP.

Ruth Barnes, JD ’07

In an era when resistance is an omnipresent and extremely relevant buzzword, I can think of no organization I would rather work for than Earthjustice, our nation’s oldest and largest public interest environmental law firm. As an Associate Attorney in Earthjustice’s Denver office, I spend my days defending our public lands, climate, and health from unprecedented threats to our nation’s bedrock environmental laws. As a second year associate, I have been given opportunities I would have at few other law firms, like drafting portions of federal appellate briefs, taking a lead role on high-profile cases, and doing interviews with national press outlets.

I went to law school to become a public interest environmental lawyer, and the generosity of Stanford’s LRAP program was the deciding factor that drove me to choose to attend SLS. Thanks to the LRAP program I have been able to work at my dream job despite my student loans. I chose a career because it would make a difference, not because it would pay the bills. And, because I live in a relatively inexpensive area of the country, my partner and I have been able to buy a house.

Joel Minor, JD ’14
Associate Attorney
Earthjustice

It sounds cliche, but LRAP is the reason I am able to fulfill my dream of being a public interest lawyer. I went to law school to become a public interest attorney and chose Stanford in part because of its LRAP program. It has fulfilled its promise. Because of LRAP, I am able to work as a staff attorney promoting and defending low-wage workers’ rights, live in the Bay Area, and grow my family. Without LRAP’s support, none of that would be possible. It is an invaluable program and I will forever be grateful for it. Thank you!

Marisa Diaz, JD ’13
Staff Attorney
Legal Aid At Work

Corporations don’t need more lawyers. LRAP is one important tool to help Stanford Law grads make better choices and allow them to work towards justice, instead. In my own career, I have been able to represent underserved communities against big coal and oil, craft major regulations phasing out fossil fuels in California, and channel billions in funds towards a just transition. I could not have afforded to do this work, and be a lawyer, without LRAP. It’s been life-changing for me, and I hope others will take advantage of it as they shape creative and useful careers.

Craig Segall, JD ’07

LRAP was the reason I went to Stanford – it’s as simple as that. Because of my background and upbringing, I knew that once I went to law school I would be obligated to do extensive work in public service, in very financially disadvantaged Native American communities. LRAP made it possible to do that after obtaining a first-rate law school experience. Stanford won out over all of its competitors when I made my decision about where to attend, because of LRAP. Now, I hope to contribute whatever I can back to Stanford, for making it possible for me to live the life for which I was called, and in partial repayment for the ability I was given to help others who would not otherwise have had access to assistance and awareness of their situations, but for my opportunity. LRAP made it possible for me to change my life, and in turn I take the obligation to try to help others change their lives very seriously. I also take very seriously my debt to LRAP and Stanford for giving me, and my home community and other similarly situated communities, such an opportunity—even still.

Best,
Brett Lee Shelton, JD ’96