Wake Forest Law School receives grant to encourage work in public service

The Wake Forest law school has received a $150,000 grant from the Jessie Ball duPont Charitable and Educational Fund to encourage law alumni to work in public interest organizations.

The Loan Repayment Assistance Program will make it possible for more Wake Forest law school graduates to work with public interest organizations, which have starting salaries far lower than private law practices. The salary differential is often a deterrent to students who want to practice public interest law, but face the high cost of paying back student loans.

Graduates meeting certain guidelines, including being a member of a State Bar and being employed as a public interest lawyer, will be eligible to receive an award that will cover up to 10 percent of their indebtedness. They will be eligible for up to three years of support each year they continue to work in public service law anywhere in the United States.

The grant will be distributed over a three-year period and go directly to student awards.

Currently, approximately 15 percent of Wake Forest law students choose work in public interest law. This includes law-related employment with nonprofit organizations, government agencies, and organizations providing legal services to the poor.

The Jessie Ball duPont Religious, Charitable and Educational Fund is a national foundation with a special interest in issues affecting the South. Named for Jessie Dew Ball, the wife of Alfred I. duPont, the fund works with approximately 350 institutions.

From the time of her marriage to Alfred I. duPont, Jessie Ball duPont focused her life on charitable and philanthropic work. For four decades she funded hundreds of scholarships for students mostly in the southeastern states. When she died in 1970, her will established the Jessie Ball duPont Religious, Charitable and Educational Fund to continue her life’s work. The principles and interests that she pursued during her life still guide the fund today.