A Grant Whose Time Has Come?

Published April 1, 2014

Too many lawyers or too few? The answer depends entirely on where you live. If you live in a rural area, the answer is too few.

The solution lies with law schools. Law schools should institute programs providing grants to graduates who agree to practice in rural areas for a specified number of years. Although there are some existing programs of this type, more need to be instituted.

It has become a maxim that there are too many lawyers and that there is an ongoing softness in demand for legal services. This is certainly true in some areas. However, although there is a glut of lawyers in some areas, other areas-rural areas, in particular-are experiencing a deficit of attorneys. The real problem is a dislocation between the supply and the demand.

In addition, a future problem is that, due to the law of economics, there might be an undersupply of lawyers everywhere. The general oversupply of lawyers coupled with a weak economy has led to a decrease in opportunities for law school graduates and thus a precipitous drop in the number of students entering law school. For the 2013 academic year, law school admissions were headed for a thirty-year low, a decline driven by student worries about rising tuition, debt load, and unemployment after graduation. Potential law students increasingly understand that it is a fool’s gamble to spend many thousands of dollars in the false hope of getting a well-paying job at the end of three years.

It doesn’t have to be this way, though. If more law schools would offer grants in exchange for rural service, law school students could graduate debt-free with a job waiting for them. In addition, rural areas would gain the legal expertise that they so sorely need.

It’s a win-win for lawyers and for rural America.

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Audience type: Administrators, Associates, Large Law Firms, Small Law Firms, Sole Practitioners