Farm states cultivate lawyers.
Winter, Mary
City dwellers may find it tough to believe, but lawyers don't
grow on trees. For the 20 percent of Americans who live in rural areas,
in fact, lawyers have become scarcer than hens' teeth.
The problem is widespread. For example, 12 of Nebraska's 93
counties have no lawyers, and six of Georgia's 159 counties are
lawyer-less, the ABA Journal reports. In Arizona, 94 percent of lawyers
are concentrated in the two largest counties, and in Texas, 83 percent
of lawyers practice in the Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio metro
areas, according to the New York Times. Wishek, N.D., population 980,
found itself without a lawyer when the last one retired in 2013, and the
same thing happened recently in Martin, S.D., population 1,072.
As an increasing number of lawyers hit retirement age, there's
been no one to take their places, especially in the Midwest. Residents
of small towns are finding it difficult to get basic legal services
unless they journey, in some cases, 100 miles or more.
With the help of the American Bar Association and law schools,
states are finding creative ways to recruit young lawyers to rural
areas. South Dakota lawmakers, for example, established a program that
offers young lawyers an annual $12,000 subsidy for five years if
they'll move to a qualifying county. Launched in July 2013, the
program, funded for 16 attorneys, has four in place and expects to hire
three more soon.
South Dakota Senator Mike Vehle (R) carried legislation authorizing
the program, which had long been advocated by state Supreme Court Chief
Justice David Gilbertson. To help win passage, funding for the program
was divided among the state (50 percent), county (35 percent) and state
bar association (15 percent).
The town of Wishek, N.D., took a slightly different tack. It's
too far from any city to attract commuters, so town officials offered to
pay for office space and other business expenses for any young lawyer
who would move to town. Cody Cooper and Mary DePuydt, a married pair of
2013 law school graduates, took the offer and moved from the Twin Cities
in April.
In Maine, former state bar president Bill Robitzek has begun
introducing Portland law students to older rural attorneys looking for
successors. The informal program includes taking the law students on
road trips to tiny coastal towns in the north. In Arkansas and Nebraska,
the American Bar Association has funded fellowships for new attorneys
who will work in rural areas.
Rural states are optimistic their efforts to recruit lawyers will
succeed, in part because the number of law school graduates has
increased over the past 30 years, and many are having trouble finding
good jobs. In 2014, only 57 percent of 2013 law graduates had full-time,
permanent jobs that required them to pass the bar, the ABA Journal
reported.
Like many other young people, new law school graduates typically
gravitate to cities for the high-paying jobs and the social scene. But
the vacuum of legal professionals in rural areas, coupled with the lack
of openings in cities, has changed the landscape. Ample opportunities
exist for promising new lawyers in rural areas, especially if part of
what makes them tick is helping people who really need it.
--Mary Winter, NCSL
