EDUCATION Public Interest Lawyers' Fund: Establish and Administer an Education Loan Forgiveness Program for Public Interest Attorneys; Establish a Non-Profit Corporation; Provide an Additional Purpose; Provide for Related Matters

The Act authorizes the Georgia Student Finance Authority to create a Loan Forgiveness Program to assist attorneys working in public interest areas of law to pay their student loans. Attorneys are eligible for the program if they work as an assistant district attorney, an assistant solicitor-general, an assistant solicitor, a civil legal aid attorney, a public defender, an Office of Legislative Counsel attorney, or a State Law Department attorney. The Act allows for loan repayment assistance for both undergraduate and juris doctorate degrees beginning in the seventh month after an attorney begins working in one of the eligible positions. The monthly amount authorized may not exceed the lesser of $600 or the monthly amount owed on the loan. In exchange for the repayment assistance, the attorney must work an additional month after the last monthly repayment is received for each month of assistance provided, up to a maximum of eighteen months.