Programs

Summer Internship Program

The Summer Internship Program provides opportunities for first and second year Loyola Law students to work as interns in Legal Services Offices in Louisiana and throughout the United States. Notices are posted in the spring calling for interested students to submit resumes for consideration for a position in one of the Legal Services Offices participating in the program. Once all resumes have been collected, the Poverty Law Center hosts a reception and information session where students meet with representatives of participating Legal Services Offices. In the weeks following the reception, students are interviewed and job offers are extended. The internships are for a period of ten weeks during the summer. Stipends are provided to students by the Poverty Law Center and the chosen field office.

The following is a list of some of legal services offices which have participated in the Summer Internship Program:

Acadiana Legal Services (Lafayette & Alexandria)
Capital Area Legal Services (Baton Rouge)
Kisatchie Legal Services (Natchitoches)
New Orleans Legal Assistance Corporation
North Louisiana Legal Services (Monroe)
Northwest Louisiana Legal Services (Shreveport)
Southeast Louisiana Legal Services (Hammond & Covington)
Southwest Louisiana Legal Services (Lake Charles)

For more information on the Summer Internship Program, contact Barbara Wilson at (504) 861-5762 or bjwilso1@loyno.edu.

Loan Repayment Assistance Program

Many Loyola College of Law graduates devote their careers to public service work as advocates for traditionally underserved communities. Given a significant law school debt burden, such careers might not be feasible without some form of assistance. Since 1991, the Gillis Long Poverty Law Center’s Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP) has tried to address this problem and remains committed to furthering its goal of providing quality legal assistance to communities throughout the country.

Eligible Jobs
LRAP is available for Loyola College of Law J.D. Program graduates who work full-time as attorneys in government or nonprofit jobs throughout the United States. Employment in private law firms, teaching positions, animal rights organizations, etc. do not qualify under the program guidelines. Applicants are eligible to apply for a loan immediately upon accepting a qualifying position unless awards have already been finalized for the current year. In that event, the request for assistance would be delayed until the following September. Students and alumni who are unsure if their planned employment will meet program criteria should consult the Gillis Long office.
Eligible Assistance
LRAP assistance is not available for periods of unemployment or volunteer employment. LRAP is also not available for loans from family and friends, for personal loans from banks or other sources. Although LRAP includes undergraduate loans, it does not include loans for other graduate school debt.

There is no retroactive LRAP assistance and no LRAP assistance for periods of loan forberance or deferment. In order to be, and remain, eligible for LRAP, graduates must provide proof of good standing from the servicers of all applicable loans, including undergraduate/joint degree loans, and may not have an outstanding term bill balance with Loyola University. LRAP assistance is solely and specifically intended to be used to repay eligible education loans. Graduates may apply yearly as long as they remain in an approved program job position.
Application Process
Applications are mailed annually in August. Applicants may reapply each year while in a qualifying position. Funds are sometimes awarded in two payments. The first payment is awarded in December and the second in April. Graduates who receive two payments are required to submit a second employer certification form before the second payment is awarded. It is the participant’s responsibility to report any change in employment, address, income, or other financial circumstances promptly to the Gillis Long office.

Under new program guidelines, in addition to the Employer Certification Form(s), a letter from the employer is required by September 1st following receipt of an award confirming the applicant’s employment for the previous year. If the employer letter is not received, your grant will be reported to IRS as income and will be taxed.
- The LRAP application requests the following information:
1. Part I: Contact Information

2. Part II: Employment and Income Information
- Start date, annual salary, and effective date of annual salary and spouse’s annual salary
- Additional income information (other taxable, untaxed income, etc.)
3. Part III: Asset Information
- Amount of cash or savings (broken down by participant, spouse, and jointly held)
- Home value, investments, etc.
- Other loan repayment assistance amounts received
4. Part IV: Loan Certifications
- Current balance and required monthly payment amounts for all lenders (documentation must include the monthly payment amount, current amount due as well as past due amounts, and the outstanding loan balance)
- Spouse current loan balances and required monthly loan payments
  Forbearance and/or deferment information
5. Part V: Information Certification Form

6. Part VI: Employer Certification form with information release

7. Part VII: Signature Page for applicants and spouses

No application will be reviewed until all requested information is received.

Awards
The executive assistant to the director, Barbara Wilson, administers the program for the Gillis Long Poverty Law Center. Each application is reviewed for program requirements and presented to the LRAP Committee. The Committee is comprised of law faculty members, the Director and the Executive Assistant. This Committee reviews and approves the awards.

Awards vary each fiscal year dependent on the number of applicants and the available funds in the budget.

LRAP assistance is not considered taxable income if the participant works for a government agency or a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization (specifically legal services) and receives the repayment assistance in the form of a loan. For this reason, recipients of non-taxable LRAP awards must sign a promissory note for the amount of any LRAP assistance. These loans are then forgiven in the following year provided the graduate has complied with the rules of the program. The LRAP promissory notes are voided and returned to the graduate.
On September 1 of each year, recipients must forward a letter (on office letterhead) from the employer confirming employment for the previous year.
Income Level
The Gillis Long LRAP program has a current salary ceiling of $42,500.00. Salary information is requested for the applicant’s spouse, but, at present, is not used in determining the LRAP award.
Acknowledgment
The Gillis Long Poverty Law Center publicly extends heartfelt thanks to John and June Mary Makdisi and the Kendall Vick Public Law Foundation for their generous financial support of the LRAP Program.

For additional information, please contact: Barbara J. Wilson, 7214 St. Charles Avenue, New Orleans, Louisiana 70118, (504) 861-5762, bjwilso1@loyno.edu.

Pro Bono Program

Law students at Loyola have the option of participating in the Gillis Long Student Pro Bono Program to satisfy the Law and Poverty requirement needed for graduation. The Gillis Long Student Pro Bono Program requires fifty hours of pro bono work which the student may perform at any time during their law school career. The Pro Bono Program places students at approved sites where students can gain practical legal experience while performing legal work such as conducting client interviews, legal research and writing, and, in some cases, representing clients before the courts where it is permitted by law. Areas of practice include such fields as domestic law, homeless law, mental health law, juvenile law, social security issues, the death penalty, elder law, consumer law, and AIDS issues. The Gillis Long Student Pro Bono Program seeks to provide students with the opportunity to gain practical legal experience to aid their development as professionals, create a greater awareness of the obligation to provide legal services to the disadvantaged, foster development of the bar, and provide quality legal services to our community. Students interested in participating in the program may contact the program coordinator, Judson Mitchell at jmitchel@loyno.edu and 861-5597.

Aside from the Gillis Long Pro Bono Program, students may also fulfill the pro bono requirement for graduation by participating in the following:

Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program
Enrollment in Law and Poverty, Law and Poverty Seminar and Street Law courses
Environmental Justice and Clinical Seminars

Journal of Public Interest Law

The Poverty Law Center supports the publication of the Journal of Public Interest Law, a journal that is devoted to issues faced by the poor, children, the elderly, and all others who are unable to afford legal representation. Qualified students are chosen as candidates and invited to participate in the writing, editing, and publishing of the Journal of Public Interest Law. Additional members are selected from an annual writing contest sponsored by the Journal of Public Interest Law. Materials for publication are contributed by students, professors, and other legal professionals.

Lectures

The Poverty Law Center strives to bring nationally recognized professionals working in the field of public interest and poverty law to the University to address contemporary issues concerning various aspects of poverty related and human rights issues. To have your name placed on a mailing list to receive advance notice of such events, please contact Barbara Wilson at (504) 861-5762 or bjwilso1@loyno.edu.

Publications

The Poverty Law Center sponsors the publication of the Louisiana Legal Services Deskbook. For more information on how to receive these publications, please contact Barbara Wilson at (504) 861-5762 or bjwilso1@loyno.edu.