Rural Kansas courts strain under attorney shortages

KANSAS — The Sunflower State's top court says the state is facing a legal crisis.

Data compiled from 99 rural Kansas counties shows the attorney-to-resident ratio is two or fewer per 1,000. The national average, according to the American Bar Association, is just under four per 1,000.

That data comes as part of the Rural Justice Initiative Committee report. The committee was created in 2022 and is made up of judges, attorneys, legislators, residents, and business leaders.

The committee says 47 rural Kansas counties meet the definition of "legal desert." Kansas Supreme Court Justice Marla Luckert says the impact goes beyond the obvious lack of constitutionally required legal representation for defendants.

"But beyond that, what we've heard stories of over, and over, and over from small communities is how having lost attorneys in their community meant that they have lost people who before had been contributors to the economic, and civic, and even cultural fabric of those communities. So the loss was felt in many ways beyond the loss of the legal system, of the legal community," said Chief Justice Marla Luckert, Kansas Supreme Court.

The committee has given ten recommendations to help reverse that trend. Among them are tuition reimbursement incentives to attend a Kansas law school and practice in rural Kansas after graduation and a student loan repayment program for attorneys living and practicing in rural Kansas.