Public defenders will benefit from new programs to curb rural lawyer shortages

Rural communities across the country face a constitutional crisis: they have too few lawyers to maintain their criminal court systems. Lacking public defenders and prosecutors, people charged with crimes face uncertainty, delay, and often blatant violations of their rights to counsel and due process. Victims wait too long for cases to resolve, and communities lose confidence in their legal systems.

Deason Center Executive Director, Professor Pamela Metzger, recently testified before a committee of the Texas Legislature, describing the dire impact of rural lawyer shortages and potential solutions to this widespread problem. Metzger recommended that states enact economic incentive and pipeline programs that encourage students to become prosecutors and public defense attorneys in rural areas.

This year, several states considered bills to create student loan repayment programs for rural attorneys. One state adopted an incentive program specifically for rural public defense providers, and two others adopted incentives for a broader range of rural legal practice:

• Iowa enacted HF 2770, an appropriations bill that funded an attorney loan repayment program and fund for public defense providers in rural Iowa. The program provides up to $10,000 per year, for up to six years. for attorneys providing public defense services in rural areas. The program prioritizes attorneys who went to law school or high school in Iowa.

   

• Kansas enacted HB 2595, creating a rural legal training program. The program provides up to $100,000 in loan repayment assistance to students who graduate from Kansas law schools and practice law in rural Kansas communities. The Deason Center assisted the Kansas Rural Justice Initiative Committee in proposing incentive programs to encourage rural legal practice.
  
  
• Nebraska enacted LB 935, creating an educational loan repayment program for attorneys who practice in rural communities with a population of 75,000 or less. The program prioritizes attorneys who serve counties that have “three or fewer licensed attorneys currently practicing.”
  
  

Several other states considered economic incentive programs but failed to enact them. Innovative proposals included:

• Ohio HB 924, which would have provided loan repayment assistance of up to $50,000 to court-appointed indigent defense attorneys, through a program that would have been administered by the State Public Defender.
  
  
• Illinois SB 3500, which would have provided compensation to attorneys who relocate to underserved communities or to law firms that establish offices in those areas.

The Deason Center has published model legislation creating an economic incentive program to encourage students to provide public defense and prosecution services in rural areas.  You can read the model legislation HERE. For assistance in developing solutions for your state, contact the Deason Center at DeasonJusticeCenter@smu.edu.