Eradicating Legal Deserts

• Pages: 19-20
• Date: 01 April 2023
• Subject Matter: Derecho Civil

Eradicating Legal Deserts

What is the solution for legal deserts? According to Kevin O’Keefe of Real Lawyers Have

Blogs, demand for legal services is growing in states like Indiana, where 40 of the state’s

92 counties have fewer than one lawyer per 1,000 inhabitants. While state bars seek so-

lutions to get more lawyers into rural areas, they have not been very successful. Even

with a lower cost of living, O’Keefe argues it is not cost-eective in most instances for

lawyers to relocate to rural areas to serve sparser populations. Instead, he suggests,

there should be ways for lawyers in rural areas to work for more people around the state

without traveling the state. Blogging can help lawyers establish themselves statewide

as trusted and reliable authorities in niche legal areas. And because most clients neither

need nor want to meet at lawyers’ oces, using video technology to connect may work

well for them. While court appearances may be required for certain areas of law, lawyers

can make clear at the outset their willingness to travel. With this framework, O’Keefe

contends, states would “have lawyers in rural areas and a growing network of legal infor-

mation for the state.”

Avoid Overtime Trouble

The city of Clevelan d agreed to pay a $50,000 settle -

ment for a wage and h our claim by a public safety depar t-

ment assistan t administrator. The em ployee alleged the

city misclassi f‌ied her as overtim e-exempt under the Fair

Labor Stand ards Act, faile d to pay her overtim e while she

was working from ho me during the pandemic, an d had

no time-tracki ng system for remote wor kers. Given the

increasing nu mbers of employe es working from ho me at

least sometim es, Ohio Employer L aw Blog’s Jon Hym an

reminds employers that if a non-exempt employee is

working, it is pai d time. The stan dard is not whethe r the

employer has authorized the work but whether the em-

© Getty Image s

ployer knows or shoul d know the employee is working. To

mitigate against unpaid overtime claims, Hyman suggests

establishing appropriate boundaries for remote work-

ers: (1) prio ritize separation of work a nd non-work time

by establishing s et hours and refraining from com muni-

cating during n on-work hours; (2) re quire employees to

record and repor t all time worked in a specif‌ied man ner;

(3) impleme nt a policy that non-exempt employe es are

paid only for time re ported in that manner; (4) consider

a digital curfew p rohibiting non -exempt employees f rom

accessing work tech nology while o-duty; and (5 ) warn

and then progressively discipline employees engaging in

non-approved work.

SPRING 20 23 • VOL. 48 NO. 3

19 | ABA LITIGATION SECTIO N

POSTED& NOTED

SIGHTINGS FROM TH E BLOGOSPHERE