Hearsay

• Pages: 14-14

... represents the number of initial Public Service Loan Forgiveness applications

approved by the U.S. Dep artment of Education . Congress enacted the prog ram in

2007, allowing college graduates working in certain low-paying public service posi-

tions to discharge federal stu dent loans after 10 years . Of the approximately 28, 000

borrowers from the fi rst coh ort who applied for loa n forgiveness in this year, only

289 were aproved, and 96 actually ha d their loans discharged . Experts say the

approval rate numbers shoul d increase, and that par t of the problem is many

people who don’t m eet the criteria applied any way. Others didn’t und er-

stand the byzantine rules and qualifi cation process. Source: law.com

%

Opening Statements

14 || ABA JOURNAL DECEMBER 2018

Hearsay

SHUTTERSTOCK

30 TO GO

Washington state has become the 20 th in the nation to abolish cap ital

punishment. The sta te’s supreme court struck down the death p enalty,

saying that it is imposed a rbitrarily and with raci al bias. The court

also noted the death penal ty failed to serve its intende d purpose of

“retribution and deterrence of capital crimes.” Gov. Jay Inslee previously

issued a moratorium on the de ath penalty in the state in 201 4. According

to the American Civil Lib erties Union, Washington’s court is t he third to

strike down the death penalt y and cite concerns about rac ial dispartities,

along with Massachusetts and Connecticut. Source: npr.com

SURVEY SAYS

More than half of law school a dmissions o cials

surveyed by Kaplan Test Prep (56 percent) said

they’ve looked at applicants’ socia l media to get

a better sense of who they are. Acc ording to the

survey, law schools are more interested t han busi-

ness schools in students’ soci al media. Ninety- one

percent said social med ia is fair game when culling

through application s. In 2011, the fi rst year Kaplan

asked the question, just 37 percent of admissions

o cers said they looked at social m edia pages.

Sixty-six percent of a dmissions o cers who scour

social media pages say t hey’ve found something

that hurts a candi date’s chances, including photos

of inappropriate activities such as underage drink-

ing, racist posts and criminal activity.

Source: law.com

$22 MILLION

... is the amount of m oney raised by the Time’s Up Legal Defense

Fund. The initiative was sta rted in January by women i n the enter-

tainment industr y in response to the #MeToo movement. The

fund has put together a netwo rk of more than 780 lawyers to

help fi nancially struggling women litigate their sexual harassment

complaints. A variety of employment sec-

tors are represented, from construction and

food service to educ ation and the militar y.

More than 3,550 pe ople have asked for

help, and about 40 pe rcent of those

seeking assistance are wom en of

color; two-thirds are low-income.

Approximately 21,000 donors

have contributed to the fund, w ith

about $4 million so far sp ent on

more than 50 cases.

Source: apnews.com