The Need for an Increased Supply of College-to-Criminal-Practice Pipeline Programs
Pipeline programs must provide a complete pathway from high school or earlier to college, then on to law school and practice. At each moment of transition, new financial, personal, and logistical pressures can cause students to leave the rural criminal legal practice track. Comprehensive pipeline programs must acknowledge and tackle this reality by providing support and incentives for students to reach professional practice.
Existing law school pipelines must target rural students. For example, the Law School Admission Council (LSAC)46 is a non-profit that administers the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT), and provides admissions resources for prelaw students and law schools.47 Its LSAC Prelaw Undergraduate Scholars (PLUS, Guided Journey) program is a free one-year program to prepare pre-law students for the LSAT and guide them through the admissions process. Participants receive ongoing application counseling, law school skills training, peer support, and financial assistance. However, LSAC Plus, Guided Journey is broadly designed to support would-be law students who “face structural barriers or systemic challenges.” It does not attend to the unique needs and interests of rural students.
However, some law schools have adopted the medical pipeline mode, developing college-to-law-school pipeline partnerships. In Nebraska, the successful Rural Health Opportunities Program (RHOP) is a medical recruitment pipeline that has pointed the way for a similar rural law program. The pipeline starts in high school students by recruiting rural students to apply for admission to participating Nebraska state colleges RHOP program. Successful applicants receive a full college tuition scholarship. Satisfactory academic performance in the undergraduate RHOP curriculum guarantees students admission to the University of Nebraska Medical Center.48 According to a 2019 report, 45% of RHOP-trained doctors practice medicine in rural Nebraska.49
Nebraska’s Rural Law Opportunity Program (RLOP) uses similar strategies. RLOP students receive scholarships to fund their undergraduate education at Chadron State College,50 Wayne State College,51 or the University of Nebraska.52 Some students also receive assistance with student housing costs.53 Beginning in their first year of college, RLOP students forge connections with the University of Nebraska College of Law, visiting the campus for special events, lectures, and networking opportunities. Law School staff visit RLOP undergraduate campuses at least once per year and provide individual student consultations. The RLOP college education experience includes a pre-law component, and rural Nebraska legal internships are available to RLOP students during the summer after their junior year.54 RLOP students form “close-knit community and support system.”
RLOP graduates who maintain a 3.5 GPA and obtain a minimum LSAT score are guaranteed admission to the Nebraska College of Law. To increase the likelihood that they can meet these requirements, RLOP students receive free LSAT coaching. The Nebraska State Bar Association’s the Greater Nebraska Rural Opportunities Committee offers additional mentoring support.55 RLOP launched in 2017 and, as of Spring 2025, counted 11 law school graduates, with around 70 enrolled undergraduate students and 22 law students.56 Seven of the 11 graduates were practicing in rural areas.57 And despite Nebraska’s dire need for public defenders,58 RLOP has no dedicated criminal law pathway.
Recruiting Diverse Rural Students to Become Rural Lawyers
Heritage University, in rural Central Washington's "historically underserved region," 59 is both a Hispanic Serving Institution and a Native American Serving Non-Tribal Institution. Between 2017 and 2021, none of Heritage's college graduates entered a law school in Washington State.
According to Heritage administrators, this "suggests that the barriers to entry into legal education are magnified exponentially for diverse students who live in this rural part of the state." Barriers include the high cost of tuition and family commitments that make it difficult for students leave home, as well as students’ “lack of confidence in their own abilities, and the cost and time required to study for and take the LSAT, the primary law school entrance exam.60
The Washington Law Schools Collaborative (WLSC) pipeline program, funded by a Law School Admission Council (LSAC) Prelaw Undergraduate Scholars (PLUS) Program grant, targets diverse Latinx and Indigenous students from Heritage University.
During a three-week summer program hosted by University of Washington, Seattle University, and Gonzaga University, students explore legal careers through mock law school classes, discussions with minority bar leaders, meetings with Washington Supreme Court justices, and sessions that demystify the law school application process. In September 2024, Heritage University and Seattle University School of Law expanded the initiative by establishing a Hybrid Hub at Heritage, allowing students to earn a law degree through Seattle University's part-time hybrid online program without leaving their community.
A suite of ambitious and innovative rural recruitment strategies at Washburn University School of Law includes a unique Law School Early Admissions Program (LEAP) that allows students to count their first year of law school coursework toward their fourth year of college, reducing the path to law school graduation from seven years to six years. This “3+3” program saves students a year of undergraduate tuition and living expenses and accelerates their return to their rural homes communities. The program also covers the tuition of students’ first year of law school (potentially over $28,000) 61, and provides at least $5,000 in scholarships for students second and third years of law school. Other program components include a donor-funded Rural Externship Program and Third Year Anywhere (TYA). Shawn Leisinger, Associate Dean of Centers and Externship Programs was an architect of these programs. In addition to coordinating these existing innovations, Dean Leisinger has devoted considerable time and energy to creating and expanding new Washburn programs that will serve rural students and rural communities.