Rural Justice Initiative Committee releases report and recommendations

TOPEKA—A committee formed two years ago to examine unmet legal needs in rural Kansas has released its findings and recommendations in a report to the Kansas Supreme Court.

The Kansas Rural Justice Initiative Committee was charged with studying the trend toward fewer attorneys living and working in rural Kansas and how it impacts rural Kansans who need legal services. 

The report includes 10 recommendations to encourage new attorneys to live and work in rural Kansas, as well as to inspire K-12 students in rural areas to pursue careers in law.   

“Every day, judges in rural communities witness the effects of too few attorneys, but this was the first attempt to document the depth and breadth of the problem,” Chief Justice Marla Luckert said. “I appreciate the committee’s extraordinary work, time, and effort to find ways we can change this trend.”

In its report, the committee said the problem of too few attorneys in rural Kansas has become a crisis. It notes that in 99 rural Kansas counties, the attorney-to-resident ratio is two or fewer per 1,000. The American Bar Association reports the national average is 3.9 active attorneys for every 1,000 residents. 

Kansas has two counties that don’t have any attorneys at all. If you remove attorneys who are 60 and older, 87 counties would have one or fewer attorneys for every 1,000 residents. Nine more would have no attorneys at all.

About 79% of all active attorneys live in five urban counties—Douglas, Johnson, Sedgwick, Shawnee, and Wyandotte. The counties are also home to nearly half the state's residents. This leaves about 1,400 active attorneys to serve 1.3 million rural Kansans in 100 counties.

Justice K.J. Wall, who chaired the committee, said the situation is even more stark than what the data show. 

“We need to keep in mind some rural attorneys do not or cannot offer legal services,” Wall said. “Some are judges or prosecutors and some work for government or private businesses. These attorneys are not available to provide legal services to someone in the community, although they are represented in the data.” 

This lack of attorneys strains the court system. It requires judges to look outside their community to find an attorney to represent a party who is entitled to have one appointed by the court. 

Judges are also faced with a growing number of people who act as their own counsel, which can be out of necessity. Judges and court employees carefully guide these unrepresented parties through legal processes while exercising great care to not give legal advice.  

Rural Kansans who need an attorney and have the resources to hire one can be forced to look outside their community, which can increase their costs. 

What’s needed, Wall said, is coordinated action to make it easier and even enticing for new attorneys to live and practice in rural areas. 

Among the strategies the committee recommends are tuition-reimbursement incentives for prospective attorneys to attend a Kansas law school and practice in rural Kansas after becoming an attorney. Another is a student loan repayment program for attorneys living and practicing in rural Kansas.

“There isn’t one solution to this multifaceted problem, but rather a number of strategies that could work together to reverse a long-term trend,” Wall said. “The recommendations are well-reasoned and attainable, and they reflect the committee’s combined understanding of this issue.” 

Before developing its recommendations, the committee surveyed rural Kansas attorneys and conducted listening sessions with rural attorneys and law students at Kansas’ two laws schools. The committee also researched how other states are responding to this issue, including through programs highlighted by the National Center for State Courts Rural Justice Collaborative. 

The 35-member committee included representatives from all three branches of state government, the legal and business communities, law schools, and organizations that serve victims of sexual or domestic violence.