Project Rural Practice: Breaking New Ground in Bringing Lawyers to Wyoming's Legal Deserts

• Jurisdiction: Wyoming,United States
• Pages: 12
• Citation: Vol. 46 No. 3 Pg. 12
• Publication year: 2023

Project Rural Practice: Breaking New Ground in Bringing Lawyers to Wyoming's Legal DesertsVol. 46 No. 3 Pg. 12Wyoming Bar JournalJune, 2023

Project Rural Practice

Breaking new ground in bringing lawyers to Wyoming's legal deserts

by Kelly M. Neville

During the past decade, there has been increasing attention focused on the shortage of lawyers in rural America and the growing percentage of Wyoming's residents whose legal needs are underserved by lawyers in their area. After extensive study, the ABA released its 2020 ABA Profile on the Legal Profession highlighting the alarming decline of lawyers in rural communities. The lack of rural lawyers is a community problem and an access to justice problem. States, localities, bar associations, and law schools have tried various strategies to get and keep lawyers in rural communities. Public and private responses to the rural lawyer shortage have emphasized attracting lawyers to rural communities and keeping them there.

Seventy percent of Wyoming's active status lawyers reside in Cheyenne, Jackson, Casper, Sheridan or Laramie. As Wyoming lawyers of the baby boomer generation retire or cut back on their practices, it is increasingly challenging to attract younger lawyers to fill the vacuum left by their departure. Attorneys...