Page 12 - Demo

Addressing Rural Mississippi'sAttorney ShortageWith the ever-changing legal landscape, one thing has remained constant over the past several decades. There is a dire lack of attorneys in rural areas. Unless and until we address the problem, it will only get worse.The ABA and other sources call these areas %u201clegal deserts.%u201d1 Bar president Meade Mitchell coined a more positive phrase, %u201clegal opportunity zones.%u201d Either way, they are large stretches of land or counties with few lawyers in them or no lawyers at all. These large areas of land are often rural, containing little towns and lots of countryside. But the people living there have the same legal needs as those in urban areas. They get married and divorced, need wills and deeds, have litigation-inducing accidents, and need attorneys to defend them in the criminal system. These are real people with real legal needs but there are not enough attorneys to service them. With more than its fair share of %u201clegal opportunity zones,%u201d the attorney population in rural Mississippi is low. We have counties in Mississippi with no attorneys at all (Issaquena County) and other counties with three or less (Sharkey, Jefferson Davis, Kemper, Noxubee, and Perry).2 Many of the attorneys who have spent their lives serving these counties and their rural communities are getting older, some well beyond retirement age, yet they still maintain their practices with varying degrees of difficulty because no one has come to relieve them. Where is the younger generation of attorneys? Why aren%u2019t they going to rural areas? And most importantly, what can we do to solve the problem? Before we answer those questions, let%u2019s start with some context and get an understanding of the current rural attorney shortage in Mississippi. Mississippi is the fourth most rural state in the nation with more than half of Mississippi residents living in rural areas.3 That begs the question, what is %u201crural%u201d? While the government is less than forthcoming with an answer to that question (their answer: %u201canything not 1American Bar Association. (2020, August 3). Legal deserts threaten justice for all in rural America. https://www.americanbar.org/news/abanews/aba-news-archives/2020/08/legal-deserts-threaten-justice/?login.2Information taken from the 2024 Mississippi Bar Membership Data report.3World Population Review, https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/most-rural-states (last visited March 21, 2024).By Heather L. Hallto combating the attorney shortage in rural areas. But it is important to understand that Mississippi is unique, and what works for other states may not work here. However, looking at what other states have done can inform and provide knowledge useful for tailoring a distinct approach for Mississippi. Other states have implemented things as simple as student loan repayment programs to alternatives to licensure to summer rural clerkships for law students and rural incubator programs to targeted attorney recruitment programs for rural areas. After detailed research, three programs have been identified as the basis for a multi-faceted, comprehensive plan to tackle the attorney shortage in rural Mississippi: the High School Pipeline Program, the Law School Rural Attorney Scholarship Program, and finally, the Mississippi Rural Attorney Recruitment Program.Mississippi Rural Attorney RecruitmentThis program has gained the most traction so far in talks with key stakeholders statewide to address the rural attorney shortage in Mississippi. The goal of this program would be to incentivize qualified attorneys to establish a law practice in rural Mississippi and remain there. Qualifying attorneys would need to agree to establish a law practice in rural Mississippi and remain there for three years. In return, the attorneys would receive a payment of $10,0007 per year for each of those three years ($30,000 total) and extensive mentorship from the Mississippi Bar. After three years, the program participants would be released from the program with no further stipend or benefits. The hope is that each program participant will have built a solid business and lasting relation- 7This amount is open to debate. It is a starting point only. The actual number would be influenced by several factors. This stipend is meant to incentivize an otherwise happily employed urban attorney to pack up and move to a rural area and hang a shingle. When South Dakota started their program, they set the stipend in an amount to mirror the cost of a year of law school in their state. The thought behind the marketing of that program was that this money could be used to pay back student loans; although, the program participants can use the money however they see fit. Here in Mississippi, it might be a smarter approach to market the stipend as something that can cover rent or other overhead inherent in running a law firm. In Mississippi, our two law schools have completely different tuition rates; so the student loan model used in South Dakota would not work here.urban%u201d),4 accepted knowledge says rural is: any county with less than 50,000 individuals.5 In Mississippi, 67 of our 82 counties are rural (81%). Mississippi%u2019s six most populous counties (Hinds, Rankin, Madison, Harrison, Jackson, and Desoto) hold only 35% of the state%u2019s population but are served by 61% of the state%u2019s attorneys, leaving the remaining 76 counties to be served by the remaining 39% of the state%u2019s attorneys. The national average of attorneys per capita is 4 attorneys for every 1000 individuals.6 Certain states, like California and New York, have much higher ratios. But Mississippi struggles at only 2 attorneys per 1000 individuals statewide, with its rural areas averaging about 1.35 attorneys per 1000 individuals or less. According to the July 2024 Mississippi Bar membership data report, approximately 25 counties in Mississippi have 10 attorneys or less.Clearly, we have an abundance of %u201clegal opportunity zones%u201d in Mississippi. But why aren%u2019t attorneys flocking there to fill the need, especially our recent law school grads? In 2022, the Mississippi Bar%u2019s Access to Justice Committee surveyed law students from both of Mississippi%u2019s law schools to find out. The results of that survey are promising and helpful. First, students showed definite interest in starting their own practices in rural areas, but they had some legitimate concerns. They worried about not making enough money to live and pay back their student loans. They worried about not having the skills to open and run a law firm. Finally, they worried about opportunities and experiences for their families who would move to the rural area with them.With an understanding of the problem, we can now look at solutions. States across the nation have taken varying approaches 4Charlynn Burd, Alison Fields, Kelly Holder, & Michael Ratcliffe, %u201cDefining Rural at the U.S. Census Bureau,%u201d ACSGEO-1, U.S. Census Bureau, Washington, DC (2016).5Mississippi Rural Health Association, %u201cAm I Rural?,%u201d https://msrha.org/am-i-rural/#:~:text=Mississippi's%20Definition%20of%20Rural&text=1%2C%20the%20state%20defines%20a,of%20less%20than%2015%2C000%20individuals. (last accessed 5/6/2024).6American Bar Association. (2024). Profile of the legal profession 2024:Demographics. https://www.americanbar.org/news/profile-legal-profession/demographics/.12SUMMER 2025