Saving the Practice of Law in Rural America: CBA Heads to Congress for Broadband Funding, 1219 COBJ, Vol. 48, No. 11 Pg. 4
Author | BY JOHN VAUGHT |
Position | Vol. 48, 11 [Page 4] |
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.
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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