by Hannah Riggle, Associate Member, University of Cincinnati Law Review Vol. 93
I. Introduction
The New York Times recently released a distressing investigative piece highlighting the worsening issue of the lack of legal services in rural communities.[1] The piece sheds light on criminal defendants left abandoned in jail in a rural community in Texas with no idea what they were charged with, no legal representation, and no end in sight to their legal issues.[2] This is not just a problem in Texas, as there is a concerning lack of attorneys in rural communities across the country, specifically in the Appalachian Region, which includes portions of Ohio.[3]
This article will explore how legal deserts became an issue in many communities and the plans being implemented across the country to address it, with an emphasis on the steps that Ohio has taken to address the overwhelming number of counties classified as legal deserts within the state.[4] Part II will describe what a legal desert is and describe three programs that states have created in an attempt to address the issue. Part III will argue that Ohio’s program closely resembles other programs states have successfully implemented. Finally, Part IV will conclude by acknowledging that while the Ohio program stands a chance of success, the state should incorporate the Ohio State Bar Association’s additional recommendations to create a truly holistic program.
II. Background
Access to legal representation is an integral feature of the judicial system. However, for those residing in rural communities, finding an attorney to represent them in court or otherwise serve their legal needs can be a daunting experience. In these communities, systemic barriers compound to create areas called legal deserts. This section explores what a legal desert is, and what efforts states, specifically South Dakota, Alaska, and Ohio, have made to address them. This section also discusses the challenges that legal deserts present to indigent defendants and communities in the Appalachian Region.
A. What is a legal desert?
A legal desert is a rural community that does not have many options, if any, for legal representation or services for its residents.[5] The American Bar Association defines a legal desert as a county where there is less than one attorney per 1,000 residents.[6] Essentially, rural communities living in legal deserts do not have enough lawyers within the community to meet the legal needs of the community’s residents. Shortages of lawyers equipped to represent community members can span all practice areas, from civil to criminal law.[7] For example, while residents in legal deserts face challenges finding an attorney to represent them in court, they also face a lack of resources for more everyday legal needs, like drafting a will, filing for divorce, modifying a custody agreement, or filing immigration forms.
The effects of legal deserts are multi-faceted. One effect is that the inaccessibility of legal representation leaves residents vulnerable in the face of legal challenges.[8] The residents most at risk are the elderly, underprivileged, and youth.[9] Two, when legal services are not available within communities, residents who can hire lawyers must do so outside of their communities.[10] In effect, money spent on legal services flows out of rural communities but does not flow back in. Therefore, not only does a lack of legal services render residents of rural communities vulnerable, but it also destabilizes communities economically because the money that would otherwise be reinvested in the community goes to firms located in larger cities.[11]
The causes of legal deserts are similarly multi-faceted. For example, the rising cost of law school tuition disincentivizes newly graduated law students from taking lower-paying jobs or opening their practices in rural areas.[12] As of 2024, the average cost of a legal education in the United States is $151,072 for tuition alone.[13] This number breaks down to $50,357 a year in tuition.[14] In addition, choosing to practice at a larger firm as a new lawyer allows graduates to gain mentorship, something solo practice in a rural area renders difficult.[15] These considerations prevent lawyers from going to rural areas to practice, leaving those communities without adequate representation.
1. Special Considerations for Indigent Defendants
In the United States, public defenders or court-appointed counsel represent 80 percent of criminal defendants.[16] Many criminal defendants cannot afford to hire their own attorney and rely on court-appointed counsel.[17] In legal deserts, there may be a lack of public defenders or court-appointed counsel. Indigent criminal defendants are particularly vulnerable in legal deserts because they rely on public defenders or court-appointed counsel to represent them in court.
In 2023, the Ohio Bar released the “Final Report Future of Indigent Defense Task Force” (“2023 Report”).[18] The 2023 Report evaluated the current delivery methods of indigent defense in the state and recommended changes that the task force believed would improve the indigent defense system.[19] One of the task force’s recommendations was to continue to address the shortage of attorneys in rural Ohio.[20] In one of its many recommendations, the task force suggested that attorneys serving as public defenders in rural areas should also be permitted to hold positions in private practice.[21]
In 2024, the task force released an additional report (“2024 Report”).[22] Notably, the 2024 Report again recommended that part-time public defenders should be permitted in rural Ohio.[23] In addition, the task force recommended that regional offices should be established in underserved communities and the court-appointed counsel system should remain in place in counties that find it effective.[24] Elizabeth R. Miller, on behalf of The Office of the Ohio Public Defender (OPD), submitted a letter that was included in the report.[25] The letter reaffirmed OPD’s stance that county governments are best positioned to decide which program best supports indigent defense in their communities.[26] As a whole, OPD supported the recommendations put forth by the Ohio Bar Association.[27]
B. What has been done to address Legal Deserts nationwide
State governments across the country have recognized the need for programs to address legal deserts in recent years.[28] However, because the individual needs of rural communities vary widely, there is no single approach that will work for every community.[29] States have tried various incentives to encourage attorneys to practice in rural areas, such as offering loan repayment, mentorship, business incubation services, or a combination of the three.[30] Currently, there is not a national-level program geared toward addressing legal deserts.[31] This is likely because rural areas vary greatly in culture and community needs, so the states and individual counties are best situated to identify the needs of their communities and viable solutions to address those needs.
1. South Dakota’s Attorney Recruitment Assistance Pilot Program
Leading the charge, South Dakota became one of the first states to implement a program to address the legal desert issue in 2013.[32] Named the Attorney Recruitment Assistance Pilot Program, (“South Dakota Program”) the inaugural program subsidized attorneys who practice in legal deserts.[33] The South Dakota Program was structured to provide five payments totaling 90 percent of the University of South Dakota School of Law’s 2013 tuition.[34] The South Dakota Program defined a legal desert as an area where the population of residents is 10,000 or less.[35] To participate in the program, the South Dakota Program requires any eligible attorney to make a five-year commitment to practicing in the eligible area.[36]
The South Dakota Program was made permanent in 2019.[37] According to South Dakota’s 2024 annual report, a total of thirty-two attorneys participated in the South Dakota Program since 2013.[38] Further, the report states that only “18 of the 32 participants have graduated out of the South Dakota Program.”[39] However, “14 of the 18 graduates have stayed in their communities to continue practicing.[40] At a glance, some may argue that fourteen attorneys in twelve years is a meager success if a success at all. On the other hand, those fourteen attorneys were provided with an opportunity to stay in rural communities when they may otherwise not have been able to financially justify the decision. When viewed in this light, the South Dakota Program has made lasting efforts to combat legal deserts in the state.
2. Alaska’s Community Justice Worker Program
Alaska’s geography is unique and many of its residents live in remote communities.[41] Because of this, the state faces unique challenges as it attempts to address its legal deserts, which are exacerbated by the intensely remote nature of many of its communities.[42] In an attempt to address the unmet civil needs of many residents, the Alaska Legal Services Corporation (“ALSC”), sought volunteers.[43] However, many of these volunteers were not lawyers.[44] Instead, in 2019 ALSC began to utilize Community Justice Workers, (“CJW”).[45] This program “. . . trains local community members to provide legal assistance where it is needed most. These community-embedded advocates are trained by ALSC to assist Alaskans who would otherwise lack access to civil legal help.”[46] Individuals who are CJWs receive training in “discrete legal topics” through asynchronous lessons that include knowledge tests.[47] After training, CJWs continue to have access to resources and are overseen by staff attorneys from ALSC.[48] As of 2019, the CJW program has secured positive results for the individuals who receive legal aid through the service.[49]
3. Ohio’s Rural Practice Incentive Program
Ohio’s attorneys are aging and many of them will retire from the work force soon.[50] With that in mind, the very near reality is that the state’s already stretched-thin legal workforce will further diminish.[51] To combat this future, the state has implemented the Rural Practice Incentive Program, (“Ohio Program”) established by House Bill 150.[52] The Ohio Program allows eligible attorneys, defined as those who have been in practice for less than eight years, to work as a “county prosecutor, public defender, or appointed counsel in an ‘underserved community’” and receive “up to $50,000 in student loan repayment.”[53] Ohio chose to define an underserved community as one where there is less than one attorney per 700 community members.[54]
In addition to House Bill 150, the Ohio State Bar Association put forth three recommendations about ways in which the state can continue to address the attorney shortage in its 2024 Report of the Rural Justice Task Force.[55] The three recommendations made by the task force included: “[1] Create and support high school rural practice pipeline programs serving rural areas. [2] Add a staff position at the Ohio Bar to coordinate rural practice support. [3] Develop/support connection and mentorship programs for new rural practitioners.”[56] The Bar Association’s recommendations aim to increase the number of attorneys willing to practice in rural areas through the above-mentioned support systems.[57] The task force described these three recommendations as a starting point to begin to address the attorney shortage in rural communities in Ohio.[58]
4. Legal Deserts in the Appalachian Region
The Appalachian Region includes parts of thirteen states: Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.[59] As evidenced by the wide range of states that the region encompasses, the various cultures and social climates within the Appalachian Region are similarly distinct and vary widely.[60] While it would be improper to generalize the attitudes of the people who live in the Appalachian Region as a whole, one thing does unite the region: an abundance of natural resources.[61] As a result, the Appalachian Region has historically been exploited.[62] For decades, the Appalachian Region has been used as a resource mine for the rest of the United States.[63] However, while other regions profit off of the Appalachian Region’s resources, the Appalachian people themselves have been denied the benefits of the region’s natural resources.[64] This has left the region stripped of resources, reeling from environmental devastation, and devoid of infrastructure because companies withdraw after stripping the land of its resources.[65] In addition, the people who live in the Appalachian Region have been subject to a host of characterizations over the years.[66] For example, some scholars refer to the “Appalachian Myth” that characterizes the Appalachian Region as an “other America,” by describing the region as a geographically isolated and culturally backward region.[67] This characterization allows the wider United States population to morally justify the subjugation and exploitation of the region.[68]
In response to environmental concerns, lack of infrastructure, and other struggles, Appalachians have sought protection from the law and have had to fight hard through various grassroots organizations and movements to secure protection from the law.[69] Many of these grassroots movement focused on labor and environmental reform.[70] This history of struggle for legal reform may have left some residents of the region disillusioned with the legal system and legal professionals.
Appalachia’s geography makes access to basic services, like healthcare, work, internet, education, and public transportation difficult for many people who live in the region.[71] This causes ripple effects through communities.[72] Difficulty accessing transportation, healthcare, education, and the internet also makes it difficult for new attorneys to choose to practice in rural areas or makes the option unappealing.[73] As a result, many rural areas face a shortage of legal services, resulting in legal deserts.[74]
III. Discussion
The Ohio Program closely resembles the South Dakota Program. Both systems focus on financially incentivizing recent law graduates to practice in rural areas, whether directly or through student loan repayment.[75] This method addresses a previously mentioned reason that recent law graduates choose to practice in larger cities: financial hardship.[76] By offering up to $50,000 in student loan repayment, [77] the Ohio Program makes choosing to practice in rural communities a viable option for recent graduates.
A. Is the Ohio Program Likely to Address Legal Deserts?
Because the average cost of a legal education is $50,357 a year,[78] and the Ohio Program grants up to $50,000 in assistance towards student loan repayment, the Ohio Program is likely to address part of the economic reason that recent graduates do not choose to practice in rural areas once they graduate.[79] However, the total amount of proposed assistance should likely be increased to cover the national average cost and to attract a greater number of recent graduates either back to Ohio, or to encourage them to stay once they graduate. Increasing the total amount of assistance granted to applicants would also enable recent graduates to offset the operating costs of starting their own firms in communities that do not have an established legal community for them to join after they graduate. High student loan debt, when coupled with high operating costs, could dissuade new attorneys from establishing a practice in communities that would greatly benefit from their presence. An additional monetary concern for new attorneys could stem from the amount of business available in underserved communities, many of which have small populations. To address this, allowing public defenders to also hold positions in private practice may sufficiently diversify the attorney’s income stream to increase the sustainability of practice in these communities.[80]
In addition, there are well-recognized downsides to practicing in a rural community as one of its few attorneys.[81] For example, it may be difficult to zealously advocate for your clients if the opposing party is a family member or neighbor.[82] New attorneys who choose to practice in rural communities may also find it hard to identify established practitioners who can serve as mentors because many attorneys in rural areas are solo practitioners or work in small firms.[83]
2. Will the Ohio Program Work in the Appalachian Region?
While this incentive may encourage attorneys to practice in Ohio, the question then becomes whether residents in rural areas are likely to seek out or accept legal assistance if it is available. As previously mentioned, there is often a notion that rural, and specifically Appalachian, communities are wary of outsiders.[84] However, this is a notion that some scholars have pushed back on, classifying this idea as another product of the “Appalachian Myth” that characterizes the region as a “. . . backwards, insular region.”[85] Therefore, while the idea that the people in the Appalachian Region are hesitant of outsiders may be a harmful stereotype, the notion that people are more likely to trust people from their communities may very well hold true. As a result, a solution would be to encourage law graduates from rural communities to return home after they graduate and to provide them with the comprehensive resources to do so and be successful.
3. Additional Options For Ohio
While the Ohio and South Dakota Programs incentivize recent law graduates to practice in rural communities, Alaska’s Community Justice Worker (CJW) program utilizes volunteers who already reside in communities that are classified as legal deserts to bring legal services to the community.[86] Although Ohio’s rural communities are not as remote as Alaska’s, allowing non-lawyers to become trained in select areas of the law to bring civil legal services to residents may be an additional option for Ohio as it attempts to address its legal desert problem. However, if Ohio adopts features of the Alaskan CJW program, there would still be a need for staff attorneys to oversee the work of the CJWs. Therefore, while this program may be an option that could alleviate the caseload of attorneys in rural areas, it does not replace the need to attract attorneys to rural Ohio communities.
In addition, this CJW program cannot address the needs of indigent criminal defendants, or criminal defendants in legal deserts. Because Alaska’s CJWs are not trained in criminal law and cannot represent criminal defendants in court, the program would not address the shortage of public defenders in Ohio.[87]
IV. Conclusion
The South Dakota Program’s success is not a perfect prediction of how the Ohio Program will fare in the coming years. The regions are vastly different, and much of Ohio being classified as the Appalachian Region adds further nuance to the discussion. However, because South Dakota Program was one of the first to address the legal deserts within the state, its continued use provides meaningful insight into the sustainability of these programs. The Ohio Program is in many ways similar to the South Dakota Program, and individual counties are left with leeway on how to best implement it. Further, community-centered initiatives like Alaska’s CJW program may be a viable option to address the civil legal needs of residents in discrete areas of the law in legal deserts. In addition to implementing the Ohio Bar Association’s recommendations, Ohio lawmakers should remain cognizant of Appalachia’s history with the legal field and should make efforts to encourage young lawyers to return to their home regions to increase trust in the field, and as a result, more positive outcomes for our rural clients.
[1] Jolie McCullough, Forgotten in Jail Without a Lawyer: How a Texas Town Fails Poor Defendants, N.Y. Times (March 25, 2025), https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/25/us/maverick-county-texas-court-system.html?unlocked_article_code=1.6k4.tkGL.cb7CP4hFsljr&smid=url-share .
[2] Id.
[3] See generally About the Appalachian Region, Appalachian Reg’l Comm’n, https://www.arc.gov/about-the-appalachian-region/ (last visited Apr. 27, 2025); Nicholas F. Stump & Anne Marie Lofaso, De-Essentializing Appalachia: Transformative Socio-Legal Change Requires Unmasking Regional Myths, 120 W. Va. L. Rev. 823 (2018).
[4] Ohio Counties Underserved by Attorneys, Ohio Access to Just. Found., https://www.ohiojusticefoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Ohio-Counties-Underserved-Map-2024.pdf (last visited Apr. 27, 2024).
[5] Id.
[6] Report of the Ohio State Bar Association Rural Practice Gap Task Force at 2, Ohio State Bar Ass’n, https://www.ohiobar.org/globalassets/advocacy/access-to-justice/report-of-the-rural-practice-gap-task-force.pdf (last visited Apr. 27, 2025).
[7] Ohio Bar Warns Of Legal Service Crisis in Rural Communities, Urges Action, Ohio State Bar Ass’n (March 12, 2025), https://www.ohiobar.org/about-us/media-center/osba-news/2025-releases/ohio-bar-warns-of-legal-service-crisis-in-rural-communities-urges-action/.
[8] Id.
[9] Lisa R. Pruitt & Bradley E. Showman, Law Stretched Thin: Access to Justice in Rural America, 59 S.D. L. Rev. 466, 472 (2014).
[10] Id. at 473.
[11] Id.
[12] Id. at 472.
[13] Melanie Hanson, Average Cost of Law School, Educ. Data Initiative (August 27, 2024), https://educationdata.org/average-cost-of-law-school.
[14] Id.
[15] Pruitt, supra note 9 at 472.
[16] Elizabeth R. Miller, Letter from the Office of the Ohio Public Defender, Office of Ohio Pub. Def. (July 30, 2024), https://sunset.legislature.ohio.gov/assets/organizations/sunset-review-committee/files/ohio-public-defender-testimony.pdf.
[17] Id.
[18] The Future of Indigent Defense Task Force Recommendations, Ohio State Bar Ass’n (Nov. 30, 2023), https://opd.ohio.gov/wps/wcm/connect/gov/db304be0-a1a9-4b77-82ef-60ac06f7b118/The+Future+of+Indigent+Defense+Task+Force+Recommendations.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CONVERT_TO=url&CACHEID=ROOTWORKSPACE.Z18_79GCH8013HMOA06A2E16IV2082-db304be0-a1a9-4b77-82ef-60ac06f7b118-oN0UR.q .
[19] See generally id.
[20] Id. at 4.
[21] Id.
[22] Id.
[23] Id.
[24] Id.
[25] Id.
[26] Miller, supra note 16.
[27] Id.
[28] See State Responses to Legal Deserts, Nat’l Ctr. for State Ct. (January 2025), https://www.ruraljusticecollaborative.org/home/state-responses-to-legal-deserts.
[29] Pruitt, supra note 9 at 475.
[30] State Responses to Legal Deserts, supra note 28.
[31] Fact Sheet: Access to Justice is Rural Access, Dep’t of Just. (February 20, 2025), https://www.justice.gov/atj/fact-sheet-access-justice-rural-access.
[32] Pruitt, supra note 9 at 470.
[33] Id.
[34] Id. at 471.
[35] Id. at 470.
[36] Id.
[37] Rural Attorney Recruitment Program 2024 Annual Report at 2, S.D. Unified Jud. Sys. (2024), https://ujs.sd.gov/media/k0ajuzwm/rarpreport.pdf.
[38] Id. at 3.
[39] Id. at 3.
[40] Id.
[41] Joy Anderson et al, Community Justice Workers: Part of the Solution to Alaska’s Legal Deserts, 41 Alaska L. Rev. 9, 10 (2024).
[42] Id.
[43] Id.
[44] Id.
[45] Id.
[46] Community Justice Worker Program, Alaska Legal Servs. Corp., https://www.alsc-law.org/cjw/ (last visited Apr. 27, 2025). Although it should be noted that similar programs that allow non-lawyers to help community members navigate the legal system have been implemented in many states over the years. See Cayley Balser & Stacy Rupprecht Jane, The Diverse Landscape of Community-Based Justice Workers, Inst. for the Advancement of the Am. Legal Sys. (February 22, 2024), https://iaals.du.edu/blog/diverse-landscape-community-based-justice-workers.
[47] Anderson, supra note 41 at 17.
[48] Id.
[49] Id. at 20.
[50] See generally Report of the Ohio State Bar Association Rural Practice Gap Task Force, supra note 6.
[51] Id.
[52] Id.
[53] Id.
[54] Id.
[55] Id.
[56] Id. at 1.
[57] Id.
[58] Id.
[59] Appalachian States, Appalachian Regional Comm’n, https://www.arc.gov/appalachian-states/ (last visited Apr. 27, 2025).
[60] See generally Stump, supra note 3.
[61] Id. at 1.
[62] Id.
[63] Id.
[64] See generally Id.
[65] See generally Id.
[66] See generally Id.
[67] Id. at 2.
[68] Id. (Stating “Such nascent Appalachian literature had an additional, more insidious effect: to facilitate the subordination of the Appalachian citizenry and the corresponding industrial exploitation of the region’s abundant natural resources.”)
[69] Id. at 12-14.
[70] Id.
[71] Access in Appalachia: A Primer For Measurement and Decision Making at 12, Appalachian Regional Comm’n, https://www.arc.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/ARC-Access-Primer-20201110.pdf (last visited Apr. 27, 2025).
[72] See generally id.
[73] The Future of Indigent Defense Task Force Recommendations, supra note 18.
[74] Paving the Road to Rural Justice: Legal Deserts, Natl’s Ctr. for State Ct. (June 27, 2024), https://www.ncsc.org/information-and-resources/trending-topics/trending-topics-landing-pg/paving-the-road-to-rural-justice-legal-deserts.
[75] See Report of the Ohio State Bar Association Rural Practice Gap Task Force, supra note 6 at 4; Rural Attorney Recruitment Program 2024 Annual Report, supra note 37.
[76] Pruitt, supra note 9 at 472.
[77] Report of the Ohio State Bar Association Rural Practice Gap Task Force, supra note 6.
[78] Id.
[79] Report of the Ohio State Bar Association Rural Practice Gap Task Force, supra note 6.
[80] Pruitt, supra note 9 at 470.
[81] Id. at 489.
[82] Id.
[83] Id. at 472.
[84] Stump, supra note 3.
[85] Id.
[86] Anderson, supra note 41.
[87] Community Justice Worker Program, supra note 46.
Cover Photo by Roger Starnes on Unsplash
