Saving the Practice of Law in Rural America: CBA Heads to Congress for Broadband Funding, 1219 COBJ, Vol. 48, No. 11 Pg. 4

AuthorBY JOHN VAUGHT
PositionVol. 48, 11 [Page 4]

48 Colo.Law. 4

Saving the Practice of Law in Rural America: CBA Heads to Congress for Broadband Funding

Vol. 48, No. 11 [Page 4]

Colorado Lawyer

December, 2019

CBA PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

BY JOHN VAUGHT

"They put me in the slow class at school because I have dial-up Internet service."

CBA President Kathleen Hearn Croshal has graciously extended me the opportunity to update members on a project that was at the crux of my presidency last year: bringing broadband infrastructure to rural Colorado. During my term, I wrote several articles explaining why lack of Internet access is such a monumental problem to outstate Colorado—and to all of rural America.[1] Simply put, if we don't bring reliable Internet access to these areas, the rural practice of law will no longer be sustainable by the middle of this century. I'm happy to report that the CBA is more committed than ever to solving this problem, and has made remarkable progress in this effort.

A Problem Exposed

I learned about this threat to rural law practice early in my presidency, during local bar visits. Lawyers told me how they were driving 40 to 70 miles to secure sufficient broadband coverage to upload briefs to the Colorado Supreme Court. I've since learned that Colorado is home to a rural county the size of Rhode Island that has no meaningful broadband infrastructure. That county is down to 22 lawyers, and the youngest is 55. Another Colorado county has no lawyers in residence.

This puts rural residents at a huge legal disadvantage. Young lawyers simply will not live and work where broadband infrastructure does not exist or is inadequate. And with 5G, driver less cars, and artificial intelligence on the digital horizon, we simply cannot afford to leave a wide swath of America behind.

Our Watershed Moment

Perceiving this existential threat to the practice of law, the CBA kicked in to high gear. As CBA president, I met with dozens of local bar leaders to hear about high-speed Internet problems throughout the state. Meetings with local county commissioners followed. Finally, we called on our congressional delegation in Washington D.C., and that's when things began to change.

In that process, we realized Colorado is not alone. Our senators and representatives made it clear that at least 40 other states lack suitable broadband infrastructure. We also quickly concluded that a county-by-county solution was unworkable...

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