TOPEKA — Kansas Supreme Court Justice K.J. Wall said Friday the state is “approaching a constitutional crisis” with a shortage of attorneys in rural areas, and that “equity and justice” are at stake.
Wall spoke at a news conference in Concordia as a committee tasked with studying the crisis over the past two years unveiled a report that offers recommendations for attracting more attorneys to practice in rural areas. The report also presents stark data: Outside of the state’s five most-populous counties, just 21% of active attorneys serve 45% of the state’s population.
One-third of the attorneys in those 100 rural counties are over the age of 60.
“The problem is serious, and it is not going to get better without intervention and affirmative action,” Wall said.
Kansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Marla Luckert established the Rural Justice Initiative Committee on Dec. 1, 2022. The 35-member committee included judges, legislators, attorneys, educators, business leaders, and organizations that serve victims of sexual or domestic violence.
Luckert said at Friday’s news conference that she formed the committee after hearing from judges who said they couldn’t find attorneys who were qualified or willing to take cases, from attorneys who wanted to retire but didn’t want to leave their communities without legal help, and from local governments that struggled to hire a city or county attorney.
She said “we knew we had a crisis,” but she wanted to know “how pervasive” it was.
“I think we found that it was even worse than we thought it would be,” Luckert said.
Data from the committee’s 84-page report shows 1,401 attorneys work in rural Kansas counties, where more than 1.3 million people live. In comparison, there are more Kansas attorneys working in Kansas City, Missouri.
Two Kansas counties — Wichita and Hodgeman, in west-central Kansas — have no attorneys at all. Seven more have no attorneys under the age of 60.
In 47 counties, there is less than one attorney per 1,000 people.
“Rural judges struggle to find attorneys in cases where the right to counsel is guaranteed by constitution or statute — cases where a person’s very liberty or right to parent their child is at stake,” the report found. “Attorneys are turning away potential clients each week because they cannot meet the demand in their communities.”
The report said barriers for attorneys working in rural areas include the balance between staggering student loan debt and lower incomes, a lack of business skills, and challenges of finding child care, housing, health care and reliable Wi-Fi.
The report makes 10 recommendations for addressing the problem. They include establishing programs to pay tuition or repay student loans for attorneys who attend law school in Kansas and practice in a rural part of the state.
Other proposals include developing a professional organization for rural attorneys to collaborate on recruitment and retention, supporting outreach efforts for K-12 students in rural Kansas, working with the Kansas Department of Commerce and Office of Rural Prosperity to help attorneys manage their businesses, and establishing a standing committee to monitor the results.
Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com. Follow Kansas Reflector on Facebook and Twitter.
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