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Debt relief needed to ensure lawyers stay in the regions
A proposal to reduce HECS debt for lawyers relocating to rural, regional and remote areas has the potential to transform the accessibility of legal services for these underserved communities.
Grace Robbie
A request has been made to the Commonwealth government urging the implementation of an initiative aimed at reducing Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS) debt for legal practitioners who move to rural, regional, and remote areas.
The need to implement such a program is evident by the ongoing decrease in the number of legal practitioners in the city of Lismore following the floods they experienced in 2022.
According to the Law Society of NSW, in the last two years following the flood event, the overall number of legal practitioners in Lismore has significantly declined by 7.5 per cent. It also disclosed that there has been a notable decline of 9.7 per cent in the number of legal practitioners in Lismore with five or more years of experience in practice.
The organisation also analysed specific practice sectors in Lismore currently facing a shortage of lawyers. Notably, there has been a 14.1 per cent decline in the number of lawyers practising in private firms. Conversely, sectors such as community legal services, government, corporate and NLE have demonstrated stability with no discernible increase.
The president of the Law Society of NSW, Brett McGrath, has advocated for implementing such a scheme during his recent visit to law practices in the NSW city of Lismore.
“As Lismore’s record floodwaters receded two years ago, a significant number of the district’s lawyers moved away and have not returned. This has left the community with significant unmet need for legal services, which could be addressed with the right incentive,” McGrath said.
McGrath further said: “Law is the most expensive degree eligible for the Higher Education Loan Program (HELP). Recent students are likely to amass around $70,000 in debt, including for the post-graduate courses necessary for them to qualify for admission to legal practice. This represents a heavy burden, particularly for early career lawyers.”
To rectify this problem, the recent Independent Review of the National Legal Assistance Partnership has proposed that debt accumulated under the Higher Education Loan Program should be forgiven for:
- “Private lawyers who can show that 45 per cent of their work over a five-year period was funded by Legal Aid.
- ”Lawyers in RR areas who work for five years with non-government legal assistance providers (e.g., community legal centres).”
The president of the Far North Coast Regional Law Society, Sean Radburn, has stressed his unwavering support for a HECS debt relief initiative aimed at incentivising legal professionals to practise in regional areas.
“HECS and HELP debt can be crushing for a young lawyer, putting a brake on ambitions to put a deposit on a home and to build financial security for the future. As Lismore practices continue the long process of rebuilding after the floods, this is the sort of incentive that could attract early career lawyers from the city.
“Lawyers in the country are generally exposed to a much broader range of legal work than can usually be found in big city firms. Those just starting out in their careers can also gain valuable client-facing and court work for which they may otherwise have to wait for years to experience,” Radburn said.
The proposed HECS debt relief scheme is a promising solution to address the acute shortage of legal services in RRR areas across Australia. Implementing this scheme is an effective approach to proactively address the issue and prevent these areas from further losing the essential services they critically require.
