Judicial Clerkships

LIPP is not intended to cover most judicial clerkships, since graduates who serve as clerks usually proceed immediately to higher-paying positions.* However, graduates who take clerkships and intend to take a position via which they will maintain their LIPP eligibility after the clerkship is completed are eligible with the following provisions:

• LIPP will provide clerkship loans during the period of the clerkship to cover any difference between the educational loan payments due in that year that qualify for LIPP coverage and the repayments required under LIPP.
• LIPP eligibility is contingent on employment, required loan payments, income and assets, as well as the same factors for a spouse, if applicable.**
• For those who participate in LIPP after the clerkship, the LIPP assistance awarded during the clerkship will be forgiven at the end of the first full year of eligibility in the post-clerkship position. For two-year clerkships, the second year of clerkship LIPP assistance will be forgiven at the end of the second full year of LIPP eligibility in the post-clerkship position.

Should a graduate fail to maintain eligibility for LIPP assistance, for any reason, the LIPP clerkship loan will become immediately repayable with interest compounded (at the rate then used by HLS for market loans) over the clerkship year capitalized. In addition, a finance charge will be added to the principal amount, before compounding, of $250 or 10% of the principal, whichever is higher. This loan is not eligible for future LIPP assistance.

Student Financial Services offers advice on how to handle the repayment of loans during a clerkship for clerks who will be subsequently entering non-LIPP positions.

* Beginning with students admitted during the 2009-10 admissions season (which begins in the fall of 2009), LIPP will offer coverage to graduates in a "deferred associate" program offered by a law firm under the terms applying to judicial clerkships as described here. For graduates in those classes, LIPP assistance will be available only to those deferred associates who enter a LIPP-eligible position during their deferral and intend to remain in a LIPP eligible position at the end of the deferral period. Full repayment of the LIPP benefits received will be required for those who enter a LIPP-ineligible position for any length of time at the end of a deferral period.

**To be considered eligible for LIPP a graduate must qualify for an actual LIPP benefit check.