Release date: Oct. 8, 2007

U.S. Rep. David Scott to Address Emory Conference

Contact: Tim Hussey at 404-712-8404 or tim.hussey@emory.edu
Contact: Elaine Justice at 404-727-0643 or elaine.justice@emory.edu

The Emory Public Interest Committee (EPIC), a student-run organization at Emory University School of Law, will host its fourth annual Public Interest Law Conference Saturday, Oct. 13. U.S. Rep. David Scott of Georgia's 13th Congressional District will deliver the keynote address at the conference luncheon.

Scott, D-Ga., is author of the John R. Justice Prosecutors and Defenders Act of 2007 (H.R. 916), a legislative bill promoting a loan repayment program for law school graduates who commit to serve as criminal prosecutors or public defenders.

"In Georgia and throughout the country, the recruitment and retention of public prosecutors and defenders has been a daunting task in recent years," says Scott. "This is largely because crushing student debt burdens have deterred many talented law graduates from pursuing public service careers. This bill will bolster the ranks of talented attorneys in the criminal justice system and help that system function more effectively."

During his keynote address, Rep. Scott will give attendees an update on the status of H.R. 916, which is currently being presented before members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees.

The conference also will include panel sessions on cutting-edge topics in health law, international law, and law and the media. A detailed agenda for the conference and links to the panelists' biographies are available on EPIC's Web site.

Panelists and topics include:

Mental Health, Privacy and Out-Patient Commitment Post-Virginia Tech

• Joanne Silberner, health policy correspondent, National Public Radio

• Christopher Slobogin, Stephen C. O'Connell Professor, University of Florida Levin College of Law

• Tammy Seltzer, Esq., director of state policy, National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare

• Dr. Peter Ash, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, Emory University, Center for the Study of Law and Religion

Right to Die: the Legal Issues of Euthanasia

• Ani Satz, associate professor, Emory University School of Law and Rollins School of Public Health

• Dr. Larry Egbert, medical director, Final Exit Network; visiting assistant professor, Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

• Karen Trotochaud, assistant director, Health Care Ethics Consortium, Wieland Center for Ethics at Emory University

Law and the Media

• Peter Canfield, Dow Lohnes, counsel to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and WSB-TV in Atlanta

• Additional speaker(s) pending

Nation Building and Developing Constitutions

• Michael Newton, acting associate clinical professor of law, Vanderbilt University School of Law

• W. Cole Durham, Gates University Professor of Law, J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University

• Robert Schapiro, Associate Dean of Faculty and Professor of Law, Emory University School of Law

The panels and luncheon will be followed by two workshops: "How to Fund a Public Interest Career" and "Innocence Matters: Freeing Troy Davis from Georgia's Death Row," led by Deirdre O'Connor, director of the Emory Law Indigent Criminal Defense Clinic. The conference will conclude with an afternoon reception.

The conference is free and open to the public.
• More information
• Register

Background Information on H.R. 916

• Establishes a program of student loan repayment for borrowers who agree to remain employed, for at least three years, as state or local criminal prosecutors or as state, local or federal public defenders in criminal cases;

• Allows eligible attorneys to receive student loan debt repayments of up to $10,000 per year, with a maximum aggregate over time of $60,000;

• Covers student loans made, insured or guaranteed under the Higher Education Act of 1965, including consolidation loans;

• Permits attorneys to enter into additional loan repayment agreements, after the required three-year period, for additional periods of service;

• Requires attorneys to repay the government if they do not complete their required period of service; and

• Authorizes $25 million per year through FY 2013 after which the program would sunset unless re-authorized.

H.R. 916 passed in the House on May 15, 2007, by a 341-73 vote with overwhelming bipartisan support. The bill included sixty-six co-sponsors, including: Rep. Bishop Sanford, D-Ga.; Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga; and Nathan Deal, R-Ga. A similar bill in the Senate (S.442) passed the Senate Committee on the Judiciary in April 2007, but was held from a floor vote. The Senate bill was introduced by Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill. Sen. Durbin included the program in an amendment (S.1642) to the Senate Higher Education reauthorization bill without objection, which went on to a unanimous vote, 95-0.

These two bills are now before members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees. The bills, different in version, must be reconciled and passed by both chambers of Congress before it can be presented to the President.

A copy of H.R. 916 is available online at the Library of Congress.

Emory University (www.emory.edu) is one of the nation’s leading private research universities and a member of the Association of American Universities. Known for its demanding academics, outstanding undergraduate college of arts and sciences, highly ranked professional schools and state-of-the-art research facilities, Emory is ranked as one of the country's top 20 national universities by U.S. News & World Report. In addition to its nine schools, the university encompasses The Carter Center, Yerkes National Primate Research Center and Emory Healthcare, the state's largest and most comprehensive health care system.

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