David Peters—Understanding Rural Legal Deserts to Inform Public Policy: Identifying and Describing Lawyer Gaps in Non-Metropolitan Counties
Author: ramiller
| Our first finding is that there is no binary definition of legal deserts, rather it falls along a continuum based on severity of lawyer gap rates. Second, legal deserts affect over half of non-metro counties, but are concentrated in a few states in the west and south. Third, we find the American Bar Association’s definition of a legal desert is too high for use in policy; and we recommend lowering the threshold from 1.0 to 0.5 lawyers per 1,000 residents. Fourth, lawyers in legal deserts earn about the same as lawyers in other non-metro counties, suggesting financial incentives may be less effective. Legal deserts also tend to be more distant, disconnected, diverse, and disadvantaged. This limits the use of mobile legal clinics and tele-legal services; and requires lawyers to have proper language or cultural competencies. We recommend licensed legal paraprofessional programs as a long-term solution to address legal deserts. Lastly, we recommend that communities promote legal consciousness in their community to improve people’s awareness of their legal rights, the legal process, and how to access legal services. |