Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) recently announced the winners of a loan forgiveness program aimed at attracting and retaining prosecutors and public defenders in Illinois. At a news conference held at DePaul Jan. 31, Durbin said that 128 prosecutors and public defenders in Illinois will receive loan assistance through the John R. Justice grant program.

"This program is going to strengthen our criminal justice system and make our country a safer place," said Durbin. "Law school students usually have debt the size of mortgages when they finish law school. It often makes it difficult for prosecutor and public defender offices to hire and retain good lawyers while offering starting salaries that are three to four times smaller than those in private firms."

The grant program was created by the John R. Justice Prosecutors and Defenders Incentive Act, which Durbin first introduced in 2003 and included in the Higher Education Opportunity Act that became law in 2008. Illinois received an estimated $365,000 to help prosecutors and public defenders in Illinois. Funding is administered by the Illinois Student Assistance Commission.

DePaul law graduates were among the awardees. "During my second year of law school I interned at the State’s Attorney’s Office, where I heard about a bill to help prosecutors pay back their student loans," said David Potter, a 2008 DePaul College of Law graduate and assistant Cook County state’s attorney working in community justice. "I knew that I wanted to have a job that would help me make a difference in the community."

For 2007 DePaul College of Law graduate Iris Y. Chavira, an assistant Cook County state’s attorney who works in child support enforcement, the award will allow her to do the work she loves. "This program will allow me and others like me to remain with the State’s Attorney’s Office despite our loan debt," said Chavira. "Private practice pays a lot more money but that’s not what I want to do. This is the job I wanted during law school."