Where the Grass Meets the Pavement: Supporting Rural Access to Attorneys by Zac Shaffer
According to recent studies, there are approximately thirty-eight thousand attorneys licensed to practice in the State of Ohio. While that seems like a lot, that actually means that for every three hundred or so people, only one of them is a licensed attorney. This statistic also does not take into account the number of licensed attorneys not practicing. Why is this important? Well, just like every other commodity in the nation, supply and demand is relevant for both attorneys and communities alike.
One of the biggest problems facing Ohioans living in rural areas is access to attorneys. While the vast majority of Ohioans reside in urban areas, roughly 25% of the population or nearly three million Ohio residents, live in areas that historically have fewer attorneys to assist them in their daily lives.
In recent years, there has been a significant effort in the legal community to remedy this problem. One example is the Rural Practice Incentive Program. This program, led by the Ohio Department of Higher Education, the Supreme Court of Ohio, and the Ohio State Bar Association, is helping newly licensed attorneys choose underserved communities for their practice. The Ohio Access to Justice Foundation identifies a county as underserved if it has more than 700 residents for each private lawyer.
The program provides an incentive (as the name suggests) for attorneys in qualifying areas to help repay student loans if the attorney agrees to work as prosecutors, public defenders, or to represent criminal defendants who do not have the means to retain counsel on their own.
Requirements for the program and application details are available on the Ohio Department of Higher Education’s website, https://highered.ohio.gov/initiatives/workforce-development/rural-practice-incentive-program.
While this is just one example of how the Ohio legal community is combatting this discrepancy, we as attorneys can do our part as well. Whether you are just
starting out or trying to build an established practice, expanding your geographical footprint is one of the best options. Not only will you gain exposure and experience as you continue to assist Ohioans in these underrepresented areas, but you will also advertise yourself and your practice. Courts will appreciate you and your name, brand, or firm will continue to grow by word of mouth. And, as someone who came from a village with a population of 1300, small towns talk, and you cannot underestimate how much value this will have for your career.
Regardless of the reason that drove you to becoming an attorney, at the end of the day, we are all in unique positions. We are the voice of the voiceless. We are there to help our clients through hardships. More specifically, we are Ohioans and want to protect and help our fellow Ohioans. Even if you are not able to expand your practice to help those with limited access, we should strive to expand our legal communities and promote our fellow practitioners to aiding those who may not have an attorney in their area to help them.
