Most new lawyers won't consider working for government or public advocacy groups because their need for money to pay off massive student loans leads them to the more lucrative private sector, a study being released Monday found.

Legal education debt, which tops $84,000 for the average new lawyer, prevents 66 percent of law students from taking public interest jobs, according to the joint study by Equal Justice Works, the National Association for Law Placement and the Partnership for Public Service. The Washington-based groups promote public interest work. "The bottom line is America's law school graduates are drowning in debt and shut out of public service at a time when the federal government is facing losses of over half its work force due to retirements, " said Max Stier, president and chief executive of the Partnership for Public Service.

More than 94 percent of law students reported borrowing money to attend law school, where median tuition is nearly $23,000 a year, but law students are not alone in having to contend with spiraling education costs.

The need to pay off student loans discourages doctors from going to rural communities or inner-city hospitals. A chronic teacher shortage has led some states to consider ways to help teaching-education students pay off college debts.

The student loan agency Nellie Mae says the average college graduate's student-loan debt has reached at least $19,400. In addition, figures for 2000 showed that graduates had average credit card debt of around $2,750.

In the law study, about 68 percent of public interest employers surveyed - government offices, legal aid organizations, public defenders and other nonprofit groups - reported recruiting difficulties. Most blamed the combination of low starting salaries and high law school loans for discouraging law students from public service jobs.

The report encourages law schools and employers to create programs to help students who choose public service pay back loans in their lower-paying jobs. A few schools, including Harvard, New York and Georgetown universities, already have them.

The median starting salary last year at private law firms, was $90,000. By contrast, public interest groups pay new graduates about $35,000, while government pays $40,000 to $45,000.

Copyright 2002 Associated Press