A lack of attorneys leaves rural Nebraskans without representation; 12 counties have no attorneys

Twelve Nebraskan counties don't have an active
attorney. (Photo by Irene North, Flatwater Free Press)

 

As many older lawyers retire from rural-serving practices and fewer graduating law students opt to replace them, many rural Americans have found securing legal representation almost impossible. In rural Nebraska, the lack of attorneys has some residents navigating legal paperwork and proceedings alone while their lack of representation causes a domino effect of stressors for courts.

"About a third of Nebraska’s 93 counties have three or fewer active attorneys residing and practicing in them. Twelve counties don’t have a single one, according to the Nebraska State Bar Association," reports Shelby Rickert for the Flatwater Free Press. "For attorneys, this means heavier caseloads and longer travel times. Judges must take on extra duties to streamline an already complicated process."

Even as advocates work to solve the problem, law training takes time. "Nonprofits and other programs are trying to fill the gaps," Rickert writes. "The state bar has several incentive programs, and a newly approved program at the University of Nebraska College of Law is working to train future attorneys in juvenile law, an area with a dire shortage of attorneys in rural Nebraska."

Criminal or child/minor proceedings often require legal representation, so the lawyer shortage leaves practicing attorneys shouldering heavy caseloads with extensive travel. Rickert explains, "Heavy workloads for the few attorneys in an area can affect the quality of representation in court, especially when defendants are entitled to legal representation."

Madeline Smith, an attorney in Broken Bow, Nebraska, is a court-appointed child advocate who struggles to stay on top of cases that are hours from her home base. Rickert writes, "Cherry County, where Smith has cases, is more than 100 miles from Broken Bow. In one of those cases, children were placed in Douglas County, nearly 200 miles from Broken Bow. The extended days add to her struggles balancing work and life balance. . . . Attorneys in smaller communities also struggle to access the same services their clients may seek, such as mental health care."

Quick hits: Are media outlets ready for an 'extinction-level event'? A new National Park; the best rural water

Photo by Yosh Ginsu, Unsplash

Are media outlets ready to rethink and reinvent themselves to survive? That's a big question with so many possible answers. In her commentary for The New Yorker, Clare Malone recounts the rise and fall of U.S. news outlets and asks, "Is the Media Prepared for an Extinction-Level Event?" Malone writes, "Even as outlets have tried to complement news coverage with other offerings, they've faced a fresh dilemma: news subscriptions —the great hope of media — are now directly competing with entertainment ones."

Wikipedia map

America's National Parks are a source of national unity alongside land and historic preservation. The Amache National Historic Site officially opened as the newest national park this year. Amache is in southeastern Colorado, one mile outside of Granada. "It was one of 10 incarceration sites used to detain thousands of Japanese-Americans during World War II," reports Lauren Penington of The Denver Post. The park is meant to remind us of past injustices and provide a place of reflection and healing for our country's past mistakes.

With all the twists and turns life can throw at us, sometimes words of wisdom can give us peace and reassurance that this, too, shall pass. Progressive Farmer's "Faith" section reaches out this week with quotes to ponder and embrace, such as this one from Martin Luther King Jr.: "Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase."

Kobu photo, Unsplash

Water, water everywhere, and the best sips are in Columbus, Wisconsin. "Many people know Wisconsin for its milk or beer, but did you know that the state is also home to some of America's best-tasting water? Earlier this year, Columbus Utilities in Columbus, a small city northeast of Madison, won the gold medal at the National Rural Water Association's 25th Annual Great American Water Taste Test," reports Claire Reid of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The taste test and awards ceremony took place at the NRWA's annual Rural Water Rally in Washington, D.C."

As younger Americans weigh the costs versus benefits of a college degree, some opt to work for companies that offer great-paying jobs that don't need a degree. "Walmart is giving bigger bonuses and adding stock awards to their annual pay packages, pushing the total compensation for the best ones to more than $400,000 a year," reports Sarah Nassauer of The Wall Street Journal. "The retail giant has thousands of store managers who act as midlevel executives. Each can often oversee a store with 350 workers and $100 million in annual revenue. Many start as clerks and climb the ranks without college degrees."

Case backlogs are a major source of criminal trial delays.
(Tingey Law Firm photo, Unsplash)

The case backlog in U.S. courts increased during the pandemic years, but the shortage of attorneys and judges pre-dates Covid-19. "The pandemic worsened problems that already had caused state and local court delays, legal experts say. The hurdles include insufficient funding, judicial vacancies, lawyer shortages and delays processing digital and physical evidence," reports Amanda Hernández of Stateline. In rural Vermont, "There were over 35,500 pending cases statewide, according to data from the Vermont Judiciary. About 42%, or 15,294 of those pending cases, are criminal cases. That's double the amount of pending criminal cases pre-pandemic."

Researchers find urban communities have about 150% greater access to legal services than rural residents

Farm Progress map, from Data Axle, 2022

In urban and metro American cities, lawyers and legal help are relatively easy to find, but for rural communities, legal representation is becoming so sparse some counties don't have access to legal advice. "Rural communities often lack the necessary infrastructure to provide essential legal support. This gap can leave individuals without the means to address crucial legal issues, ranging from family matters to property disputes," report K. Aleks Schaefer and Andrew J. Van Leuven for Farm Progress. "A 'rural legal desert' refers to areas where residents face significant challenges in accessing legal services and representation."

Researchers Schaefer and Van Leuven "collected firm-level data from 2014-2021 from more than 350,000 law offices together with socio-demographic data for 3,108 counties in the continental U.S. to statistically quantify the scope of the rural legal desert problem and shed light on potential solutions," they write. "We found that— when evaluated on the basis of legal employees per capita — urban communities have approximately 150% greater access to legal services than those in rural areas."

Legal resources vary among rural communities, and those with greater per capita incomes provide better legal access, Schaefer and Van Leuven explain.

With knowledge of the stark differences in legal access and protections for rural residents, Schaefer and Van Leuven advise advocating for policy changes and creative solutions. They write, "Our findings highlight the need for targeted policy interventions and innovative solutions to address the rural lawyer shortage. One policy intervention that appears to have been successful is Project Rural Practice established by the South Dakota Legislature in 2013. The PRP program provides incentive payments to attorneys who commit to serving five continuous years of practice in an eligible rural county."

Rural sheriff and prosecutor offices in Texas are awarded $125 million to bolster staffing and equipment needs

Map of criminal legal deserts in Texas.
(SMU Dedman School of Law map)

To address law enforcement and prosecutorial staffing and pay shortages, Texas has awarded $125 million to rural offices that need more trained professionals, increased wages and new equipment to serve their communities, reports Carlos Nogueras Ramos of the Texas Tribune. Commenting on the funds, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar said, "These rural grant programs will help law enforcement offices across this state get the additional financial tools they need."

The grant was made available to communities with populations less than 300,000, and once offered, "94% of eligible sheriff's offices applied for money. Nearly 86% of eligible prosecutor's officers applied, the comptroller said. The comptroller awarded grants to 224 sheriff's offices and 138 prosecutors' offices," Ramos writes. "Rural law enforcement can apply for the grant again in 2025."

In rural Texas, prosecutors' offices have struggled to compete with metro areas to recruit and retain attorneys. "The money is a start to reverse a long-term decline of prosecutors in rural Texas counties, said Pamela Metzger, executive director at the Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law," Ramos reports. "Less than one percent of lawyers practiced criminal defense law in rural parts of Texas."

The lack of attorneys means rural defendants wait longer to see a public defender, which can lead to more time sitting in jail. "Metzger said that an individual accused of a crime in a major city typically has a guaranteed public defender representing them in court within a day." She told Ramos, "If you live anywhere else, you'll have to wait 72 hours or maybe a weekend, just because of where you live."

Reeves County, pop. 14, 800, will
continue to face staffing shortfalls.
(Wikipedia map)

For law enforcement offices, the added funds will help but not solve their staffing woes. Michael Lazcano, a chief deputy at Reeves County, said, "Money is one part of the equation. He said that law enforcement agencies, especially rural ones, will continue to grapple with recruitment," Ramos reports.

A 2022 study by the Department of Justice "found that recruiting has been a persisting challenge for sheriff’s offices. The number of full-time, sworn officers — 174,000 — has not increased since 1997."

First Amendment attorney says Murdaugh trial can be a model for how judges balance free press and fair trial issues

Attorney Jay Bender
(National Newspaper Association photo)

By Benjy Hamm
Director, Institute for Rural Journalism
University of Kentucky

The Alex Murdaugh murder trial in South Carolina is a good example of how a judge can balance the free press needs of the media with the defendant’s fundamental right to a fair trial, according to Jay Bender, a veteran First Amendment attorney.

Bender recently spoke at the National Newspaper Association convention in Washington about his role in helping Circuit Court Judge Clifton Newman provide journalists with good access to the high-profile trial while also ensuring that the media abided by the rules and decorum established by the judge.

The trial in Walterboro, which is about an hour west of Charleston, attracted regional, national and international coverage in newspapers, online news sites, radio and TV broadcasts, blogs, podcasts and documentaries. The trial lasted for six weeks before Murdaugh was convicted on March 2 of murdering his wife and a son at their family farm.

“People all over the world watched this trial,” Bender said.

But they would not have been able to see it without Judge Newman’s help. South Carolina’s rules regarding cameras in the courtroom give each judge the discretion on whether to allow photo and video coverage.

“There are some judges who don’t like cameras,” Bender said, and thus don’t allow them. But he said Newman recognized the importance of including cameras as part of the broader coverage. 

Another major consideration involved determining the best ways to provide seating and coverage in the 200-year-old Colleton County Courthouse that Bender said was small, didn’t provide the best views and could be a difficult place to hear the proceedings.

The courtroom had space for about 15 journalists, and that was not nearly enough room for the up to 50 reporters who wanted to attend some days. So, Newman issued an order establishing reserved seats each day for the local and statewide media that had been covering the case from the beginning, in addition to national media organizations such as the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and TV outlets.

The judge’s decision meant that two local community newspapers, the Press and Standard of Walterboro and the Hampton County Guardian, would not be squeezed out by larger media organizations.

The judge also reserved seats for two bloggers and podcasters who had covered the case extensively. Several other media seats were offered up in a lottery that journalists could enter each day.

Town officials also set up an overflow media facility in the Wildlife Center across the street from the courthouse. Bender said the overflow room was a much better place to watch the trial because it had tables, chairs and a video and audio feed of all the proceedings taking place in the courtroom.

Court TV provided video and audio feeds for the trial, while photographers from The State newspaper in Columbia and the Post and Courier in Charleston were chosen as pool photographers to provide still images. The photographers also were given 30 minutes each day after the trial had recessed to take photographs of documents introduced as evidence.

The way Newman and the town of Walterboro handled the media can serve as a model for other major trials across the country, Bender said.

Bender said the media must do their part to make sure everything operates smoothly during a trial. Among his suggestions are:

-- Understand and abide by the rules of the court. For example, South Carolina does not allow the use of cell phones in courtrooms, though some reporters have been known to forget that rule or try to get around it. To make sure every journalist knew the rule, Bender handed out reporters’ notebooks with a reminder printed on the cover, “You have entered the no phone zone.”
-- Respect the courtroom environment with your dress and manner. That means dressing professionally and not in shorts and a T-shirt (yes, Bender says that has happened more than once).
-- Reach out to the judge in advance about a major case to discuss the media’s interests. A state Press Association attorney often can help with legal requests.

On a personal note, I worked with Jay as a legal source for civil and criminal cases I covered while working as a reporter for The Associated Press in South Carolina. And the newspapers I’ve worked with later used Jay as an attorney in our First Amendment cases in South Carolina, where he served as general counsel to the South Carolina Press Association. His legal knowledge, experience with the media and engaging personality made him the ideal choice to help in the Murdaugh case.

Murdaugh is appealing his murder convictions, but Bender said even though he enjoyed his role as media liaison for the first trial, he does not plan to return if the case is tried again.

“I paid my debt to society,” he said.

Shortage of rural attorneys leaves judges and citizens to wade through proceedings together

Judge Lori Bolton Fleming, top, helps some citizens complete
legal paperwork. (Photo by Dominick Williams, WSJ)

With a dwindling number of rural attorneys, many judges have lawyerless courtrooms and need to help some citizens navigate the civil court proceedings and paperwork, reports Shannon Najmabadi of The Wall Street Journal. Kansas is among the states facing a shortage. "Eighteen of the 105 counties in Kansas have two active attorneys or fewer, according to recent data from a Kansas Supreme Court committee addressing rural lawyer shortages. Two of those counties have no active attorneys. . . . Organizations such as Kansas Legal Services receive federal funding to represent low-income people in civil matters but say they are overstretched."

In civil matters, people can opt to self-represent, but only some citizens can navigate complex legal processes and paperwork, which leads to delays and judges spending time they don't have to assist. "Some litigants reference documents they have, such as pay stubs, but fail to admit them as evidence. Others leave out key facts," Najmabadi writes. "Recent studies estimate that in civil and family law cases, more than 70% that go to court have at least one party self-represented, according to the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System."

Not all civil cases require attorney know-how; many districts have online forms and instructions. Kansas courts have set up self-help centers and made legal records accessible online. Bolton Fleming, who is chief judge of Kansas's 11th Judicial District, "has begun helping pro-se litigants fill out divorce decrees in court in the last five years, even though they are supposed to bring completed copies to hearings," Najmabadi reports. "Others want to encourage lawyers to move to less-served areas by reducing higher education costs so law-school graduates don't feel pressure to take high-paying corporate positions. Courts have also experimented with allowing non-lawyers to practice, similar to how some areas let physician assistants and nurses provide medical care typically provided by doctors."

Forty years ago, there were enough "attorneys to take on cases, said Glenn Braun, chief judge of Kansas' largely rural 23rd Judicial District, but the lack of attorneys in rural areas has long been a problem without a realistic solution," Najmabadi writes, "The Kansas Supreme Court recently convened a committee focused on finding ways to address a rural attorney shortage."

Decades of underfunding, neglect leave public defenders buried and the Sixth Amendment dangling in some states

Sandy Chung, Oregon ACLU's executive director, speaks about the importance of
 of the right to representation. (Photo by Kylie Graham, Mid-Valley Media)

I object. To not having representation. If a person is accused of a crime, the Sixth Amendment guarantees a right to an attorney, even if a person can't afford one. That's the law. But. "Staff shortages and decades of underfunding have created public defense systems crises across the West," report Emily Hamer, Seaborn Larson, Caitlin Schmidt of newspaper chain Lee Enterprises. "Public defenders say they’re unable to serve clients effectively as they grapple with crushing caseloads, few resources, burnout, student debt and low pay. . . . Experts say states must retain public defenders and recruit more of them to ensure everyone who needs an attorney gets one."

The Lee reporters sought data on public defenders' workload in 17 western states. Those in Arizona, Idaho, Kansas, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas and Wyoming "had more cases than outdated national standards recommend," they report. "Public defenders in Colorado, Montana and Nevada worked too many hours. The other states don’t track that data statewide. . . . Montana’s state public defender office says it needed on average 63 more public defenders to handle cases assigned since 2019 and still meet its workload management limits. . . . Oregon and New Mexico have one third the attorneys they need to provide adequate representation, according to American Bar Association studies from last year."

Dean Brault, Public Defense Services director in Pima County, Arizona, told reporters: “At some point, we will have to go attorney to attorney and ask if they can take another case and provide effective representation. When the answer to that from everyone is ‘no,’ we’re going to be at a crisis where we have to go to the court and say we can’t ethically take any more cases.”

Savina Haas's PD office did not have 
money to purchase her an office chair.

In Wyoming's Campbell County, an unnamed public-defense supervisor told Lee, “I don’t tell my clients this, but most of the time, especially on misdemeanor cases, I’ve never read their police report. I’ve never watched their videos from the police. I’ve had no time to really investigate their case at all."

Savina Haas, who was public defender in Lassen County, California, told Lee the main solutions were simple: "In all honesty, all they needed to do was get us the resources that we need. Pay us at least somewhat competitive wages so we can bring people here. Have a full staff. Have the ability to be able to run with a decent budget."

Lassen County Chief Administrative Officer Richard Egan "said the county tried several times to recruit and 'just couldn’t do it.' He conceded the county did not increase the salary range." He told Lee, "It’s a rural county that we’re in. Our resources are just limited."

Rural America lacks lawyers, and only a few states are addressing the problem; go 100 miles for a will or a divorce?

In 2013 David Gilbertson, then chief justice of South Dakota, posed
with a sign he ordered. (New York Times photo by Matthew Staver)

"You're going to need a lawyer for that," pretty much everyone says at some point in time. But in rural areas, that lawyer is a lot harder to find: "Despite efforts in recent years by a handful of states, universities and legal associations to ease the problem, there remains a glaring lack of lawyers in many far-flung places," reports Elaine S. Povich for Stateline. "This leaves those areas and their residents without easy access to legal advice for family issues, wills, estates and property transactions, in addition to any criminal or civil legal disputes. Residents often have to drive long distances to another city or rely on remote video meetings."

Sam Clinch, associate executive director of the Nebraska State Bar Association, which has few lawyers outside Omaha and Lincoln, told Povich, “That’s an access problem when you are asking someone to drive 100 miles or more to do a simple will or a simple divorce." Povich notes, "Nebraska has a small state loan repayment program to help a few attorneys who agree to practice rurally; in a decade, the program has placed 39 lawyers in rural parts of the state."

Povich reports, "Some 40% of all counties in the United States — 1,272 of 3,141 — have fewer than one lawyer per 1,000 residents, so few that they are considered 'legal deserts,' according to the most comprehensive survey of attorneys available, conducted by the American Bar Association in 2020. . . . Nationwide, there are roughly four lawyers for every 1,000 residents, but those numbers don’t mean much because so many lawyers are concentrated in cities. . . . South Dakota is one of the few states where the legislature and governor agreed a decade ago on a plan to attract lawyers to rural areas." The state has few attorneys outside urban centers such as Rapid City and Sioux Falls. 

Povich notes that South Dakota's program is an exception. Lisa Pruitt, a law professor at the University of California, Davis and lead author of an article titled "Legal Deserts: A Multi-State Perspective on Rural Access to Justice," published in the Harvard Law & Policy Review in 2018, told Povich: “In most states, the relevant institutions are not willing to do this because constituencies are not strong enough. It’s hard to get lawmakers or The State Bar of California to care about rural people and places because there is no power there.” Povich notes, "A search of the California legislature’s database turned up no bills specifically designed to address the issue over the past several sessions."

Other states are showing some progress. Maine managed to open a "legal clinic in Fort Kent, a city on the Canadian border, and funded it at $600,000, according to Senate President Troy Jackson. In an interview, Jackson said while there was little opposition, some residents of other rural parts of the state thought maybe they should get a clinic too. That discussion was put off, but he expects others to make the case if the first program is a success," Povich reports. "Nebraska’s program, the Legal Education for Public Service and Rural Practice Loan Repayment Assistance fund, last fiscal year paid 34 recipients between $1,000 and nearly $5,000 toward their law school loans if they work in designated rural areas, according to an email from Jeffery A. Pickens, chief counsel of the Nebraska Commission on Public Advocacy. . . .To entice them, he said, the program’s advocates talk about experience rather than money."

Kansas chief justice creates initiative to address the need for more rural lawyers, as other Plains states have done

Chief Justice Marla Luckert said the lack of attorneys in rural Kansas
areas was at a crisis point. (Photo by Rachel Mipro, Kansas Reflector)

Kansas needs more lawyers. Not just any kind of lawyers; rural lawyers. It's a problem that other Great Plains states have tried to address, and now Kansas Chief Justice Marla Luckert has tackled it, reports Rachel Mipro of Kansas Reflector. "Eighty percent of all active Kansas attorneys live in six urban counties, leaving Kansas rural communities struggling to find legal help." The coal of the Rural Justice Initiative Committee is "attracting attorneys to practices in rural areas."

“We have to recognize that there is not access to justice, and the system of seeking redress for those grievances is unbalanced because it’s financially inaccessible," Luckert told Mipro. "The lack of attorneys constitutes a crisis, damaging the lives of rural residents."

To attract younger attorneys to rural areas, committee members told Mipro, "they would have to address social factors that prevent young attorneys from moving to rural areas, such as the lack of shopping centers, activities and fewer romantic prospects."

"The 35-member committee will collect data on the legal needs of rural populations, make recommendations about existing Kansas rural attorney recruitment projects and study demographic trends," Mipro. reports "At the end of 18 months, the committee will report back to the Supreme Court with its initial recommendations." Luckert told the new committee: "Good luck. It's a big task."

States try to get lawyers to fill 'legal deserts' in rural areas

When Columbus, Nebraska, lawyer Thomas Maul headed the Nebraska State Bar Association in 2016 he was instrumental in getting the state to start a program to recruit lawyers to its rural areas. (Photo by Nati Harnik, The Associated Press)

Though the number of lawyers in America has increased by 14.5 percent since 2009, attorneys in rural America are in short supply. About 2% of small law practices are in small towns and rural areas, according to a 2014 study, and state-level data confirms that lawyers tend to cluster in urban areas.

"Their disproportionate coverage creates 'legal deserts' or patches of the state with few if any lawyers in private practice. Meanwhile, many of the existing rural lawyers are approaching retirement age, with too few law-school graduates moving in to replace them," reports Stateline's April Simpson. "Legal deserts disproportionately affect rural and especially poor people, who may have to travel hundreds of miles, or experience lengthy and expensive delays for routine legal work. Lawyers often handle complicated cases, but also standard fare such as divorces, contract disputes and eviction threats. With limited access to legal representation, vulnerable populations may be exploited by those in positions of power."

Map from Access to Justice in Rural Arkansas, March 2015

Though law schools and some states are encouraging law school graduates to practice in rural areas, it's a difficult sell for the same reason other professionals hesitate to move to rural areas: a tighter job market, lower salary, isolation, and more. And rural lawyers face unique challenges: "Small-town lawyers must be generalists, while the legal profession is becoming more specialized. Rural areas often have poor broadband access, creating technical challenges to accessing legal information," Simpson reports. Also, more rural residents may have a hard time paying for legal services, which means lawyers have a harder time making a living.

In 2017, South Dakota rolled out a five-year pilot program to recruit lawyers to rural areas. It pays lawyers $13,000 a year on top of their salaries to practice in counties with a population of 10,000 or less. Local county governments cover 35% of that, the state pays for 50% and the South Dakota Bar Foundation pays for 15%. Simpson reports that 24 lawyers are in the program.

No other state has such a program, but other tactics are being tried. Nebraska recruits college freshmen, and Arkansas provides lawyers with continuing education and helps them network with rural attorneys and judges, Simpson reports.

Rural areas run short of lawyers, which disadvantages rural residents needing legal help

In some parts of rural America, lawyers are getting hard to find. That is especially true in the Great Plains, where population loss has thinned the ranks of attorneys, reports Grant Gerlock of NET News in Nebraska. "Eleven of Nebraska's 93 counties have no lawyers at all, not one in the entire county," he reports. "It's a symptom of the so-called brain drain in rural America. Young people often go away and don't come back, leaving small towns short of doctors, dentists, lawyers and even farmers."

Lawyer Tim Brouillette told Gerlock, "If somebody local gets charged with a crime simple as a minor in possession or maybe a minor theft or trespassing, they don't want the county to have to pay for indigent defense, so a lot of times they'll plea. And in some cases, you know, they may get jail time where they otherwise wouldn't. If they would have lived in the city, they would have had a public defender. Now, they have a record."

Lisa Davis, a rural law specialist at the University of California-Davis, "says when rural residents do get a lawyer, they often pay more, which puts them at a disadvantage, Gerlock reports, with a sound but from Pruitt: "Especially if, you know, the other side is the federal government, the state government or corporate interest or, you know, even a local school board."

Gerlock notes, "In numerous states with lawyer shortages, there are efforts to fix the problem. North Dakota, Iowa and others send law students to rural firms for summer internships. South Dakota offers a stipend to lawyers working in under-served areas. A new program in Nebraska recruits rural high schoolers to become rural lawyers."

Texas Tech program pairs law students with poor rural clients who are unable to afford an attorney

A program at Texas Tech University sends law students to poor rural areas to help students gain valuable court experience while helping rural residents get the representation they sorely need but can't afford, Josie Musico reports for the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. "Texas Tech School of Law’s Caprock Regional Public Defender Office sends third-year students to try or plea-bargain criminal cases in a dozen or so rural counties. Clients have been ruled indigent, or lacking funds to pay for a private attorney." (Musico photo: Texas Tech law faculty member Donnie Yandell reviews a case with third-year student Sydne Collier)

"The program is funded through a grant from the Texas Indigent Defense Commission," Musico writes. "It bills participating counties significantly less than what those counties would have to pay practicing attorneys to work as public defenders."

The student lawyers, who have permission do everything a lawyer does except talk to the judge without a supervising attorney, typically represent clients "charged with misdemeanors and low-level felonies," Musico writes. Steven Chapa, a student participant, told Musico, “I like the fact that I get to help people, and at the same time it’s gonna help me when I open up my law firm." (Read more)

Rural areas struggling to fill vacant court reporter positions; employees can earn more in metro areas

Fewer training programs, aging employees on the cusp of retirement and recent graduates opting to take higher salaried positions in metro areas are leading to a shortage of qualified court reporters in rural areas, Jocelyn Brumbaugh reports for The Tribune-Democrat in Johnstown. Pennsylvania, which at one point had about a dozen court reporting programs, now only has two. (Tribune-Democrat photo by Todd Berkley: Cambria County court reporter Shana Grow)

"According to a 2013 study conducted by the National Court Reporters Association based in Vienna, Va., the demand for court reporters will soon exceed the supply nationwide, despite a transition to digital recording in some courtrooms," Brumbaugh writes. The study said, “Decreased enrollment and graduation rates for court reporters, combined with significant retirement rates, will create by 2018 a critical shortfall predicted to represent nearly 5,500 court reporting positions."

In Cambria County, only nine of 10 court reporter positions have been filled, and two or three current employees are considering retirement in the next year, Brumbaugh writes. Filling open positions has been difficult, said President Judge Timothy Creany. He told Brumbaugh, "We have a real problem. I don’t know how we’re going to be able to address it."

One problem is that metro court reporters often earn more money because "court reporters are reimbursed at a certain rate for the transcripts they type," Brumbaugh writes. Another problem is that some metro areas have switched to digital voice recognition devices, which some people claim are easier to use. But rural officials say the technology can prove untrustworthy if more than one person is speaking at the same time. (Read more)

Ky. conference to focus on beginning farmers

A new conference is aimed at helping beginning farmers. The Kentucky Beginning Farmer Conference, scheduled for Oct. 5 in Frankfort, will offer information on topics like land access, legal issues, grants and loans, retail versus wholesale, proper record keeping and a "meet the buyers" panel, Aimee Nelson writes for the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment.

UK agricultural economist Lee Meyer, told Nelson, “The conference will be a great opportunity for beginning farmers to network with experienced farmers and others just getting started. Presenters will be farmers, legal professionals, grant and loan experts and business owners who buy from Kentucky farmers. The farmers who attend will be able to gather a lot of new information and ideas that will help them expand their business.”

Registration will begin at 7 a.m., with the conference running from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Registration is $15 and includes a light breakfast and lunch. For more information or to register for the conference, click here.

50 years after right established, not all defendants get lawyer, and they're scanter in rural areas

Fifty years ago today the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, as part of Gideon vs. Wainwright, that everyone accused of a serious crime has a constitutional right to a lawyer, whether they can afford it or not. In honor of the anniversary of the landmark decision, many news organizations looked into how the judicial system is living up to the principle, and found that many defendants are standing trial without the services of a lawyer.

Guilty pleas account for about 95 percent of all criminal convictions, writes Stephen B. Bright and Sia Sanneh of the Los Angeles Times. In many courts, poor people are processed through the courts without lawyers or moments after speaking for a few minutes with lawyers they just met and will never see again.

Most states have little incentive to provide competent lawyers to represent the people they are trying to convict, fine, imprison or execute, the Times reports. Many focus on minimizing costs, awarding the defense of poor people to the lowest bidder, compensating lawyers at meager rates and underfunding public defender programs. This facilitates pleas, speeds up cases and heightens the chances of conviction for anyone accused of a crime.

The Legal Services Corporation, the federally financed organization that provides lawyers to the poor in civil matters, says there are more than 60 million Americans — 35 percent more than in 2005 — who qualify for its services, writes Ethan Bronner of the New York Times. But it calculates that 80 percent of the legal needs of the poor go unmet. In state after state, according to a survey of trial judges, more people are now representing themselves in court and they are failing to present necessary evidence, committing procedural errors and poorly examining witnesses, all while new lawyers remain unemployed.

Georgia offers a case study on the mismatch between lawyers and clients at a time when each needs the other, Bronner notes. According to the Legal Services Corp., 70 percent of the state’s lawyers are in the Atlanta area, while 70 percent of the poor live outside it. There are six counties without a lawyer and dozens with only two or three.

The Florida Supreme Court is considering a limit to its caseload, writes Rick Hampson of USA Today. Last year, the Missouri Supreme Court authorized public defenders with unmanageable caseloads to decline new cases, and the American Bar Association urged states and counties not to fire public defenders who do. The problem is money. An explosion in the number of criminal cases has overwhelmed the indigent defense system, which represents about 80 percent of all accused.

S.D. considers incentives to make lawyers go rural

South Dakota seems to have enough lawyers; they just aren't practicing in the right places. That's the thinking behind recent legislation that would offer financial incentives for lawyers to practice in rural counties that currently rely on out-of-town lawyers. South Dakota's rural lawyer shortage reflects some of the wider problems of rural depopulation and the increasing urban concentration of professionals.

Senate Bill 218 aims to start a four-year pilot program that would reimburse tuition for law students who work in rural South Dakota areas for five years after graduation, or would financially reward attorneys who move to rural areas, Andrea Cook reports for the Rapid City Journal.  The state and beneficiary counties would share the cost, with counties paying 35 percent, Cook said.

"We have enough attorneys in this state, but they're all condensed into basically four counties," South Dakota Supreme Court Justice David Gilbertson, a supporter of the bill, told Cook. She reported that 65 percent of the lawyers in South Dakota live in the state capital of Pierre, Rapid City, Aberdeen or Sioux Falls. On the other end of the scale, the Sixth Judicial Circuit in the middle of the state has keenly felt the lawyer shortage, with about half of its 14 counties in the circuit having fewer than four lawyers, Cook reports.

"When someone facing criminal charges qualifies for court-appointed representation, judges often have to look far away to make defense attorney appointments," Cook said, explaining that the bill for each out-of-town court appointed lawyer translates to $1 per mile traveled and $88 per hour with clients. In addition to the expense, he siad, relying on distant lawyers also means long court days and difficulties in scheduling.

Complicated cases that need more than one attorney can quickly turn into a  logistical nightmare:
"It's really tough where you have an abuse and neglect case where you got maybe one mom and a couple dads and you need an attorney for the kids," Fourth Judicial Circuit Judge Warren Johnson, told Cook.

Gay Tollefson, a state attorney in rural Haakon County who worries about leaving her clients without a lawyer when she retires, told Cook young replacement attorneys might be intimidated by starting in a small town and might have trouble finding work for their spouses: "You're taking a big chance and I think that scares people." (Read more)

Midwest law schools counseling students to 'go rural' in search of jobs, where they're needed most

Kay Oskvig, second-year University of Iowa student in
  Garner, where she clerks. (WSJ photo by Jenn Ackerman)

In parts of the rural Midwest, small towns are itching for lawyers, writes Ashby Jones of The Wall Street Journal. "The job market is good for lawyers in the western and more rural parts of Nebraska, in towns like Ogallala and Scottsbluff," said Susan Poser, dean of the law school at the University of Nebraska. "We're trying to make students more aware of those opportunities," she said. Last year, the University of Nebraska's law school created a special program of study for its students focused on practicing solo or in small firms after they graduate. The University of Kansas law school a few months ago launched a "rural and solo practice program," which teaches students the basics of each.

The rural areas' biggest selling point is jobs. As of February, the employment rate for students who graduated in 2011 was about 86 percent, the lowest for a class since 1994, according to the National Association for Law Placement. In many ways these law schools are following the lead of the medical profession, reports Jones, which has long encouraged students to practice in rural settings with doctor shortages, and often subsidized them to do so: "The surfeit of lawyers in the rural Midwest largely boils down to demographics: Educated young people raised in the region are fleeing for the cultural and financial opportunities of larger cities, both in their own states and farther afield."

"Twenty years ago, Chadron had 10 lawyers; Alliance had a dozen," said Scottsbluff lawyer Howard Olsen, a former president of the Nebraska Bar Association. "Now, they each just have two or three." Olsen said that clients in rural Nebraska who used to find a lawyer across the street may now drive "50, 60, sometimes 100 miles" to find one. In small towns, lawyers' annual pay tends to start in the low-to-mid-five figures, but advantages can twinkle in the eye of the beholder. "The cost of living, the pace of living and the variety of practice, to name a few," said Marianne B. Culhane, dean of the law school at Creighton University in Omaha. "Plus, no long commutes." (Read more)