Another story on the rural lawyer shortage, this one from Pew Trust

Read April Simpson's story, "Wanted:  Lawyers for Rural America" here.   The focus is primarily on Arkansas, including this opening illustration/anecdote about the southern part of the state and implications of the rural lawyer shortage for criminal law:

After an early career modeling in Los Angeles and New York City, Furonda Brasfield returned home to pursue her passion: practicing law in rural Arkansas. 

Brasfield had graduated from high school in 1999 in Stuttgart, a town of 7.2 square miles known for its fertile soil, good for growing rice, and the migratory ducks that draw serious hunters. She left the state to become a contestant on “America’s Next Top Model,” returned to attend the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, and left again to pursue her modeling career. But her legal ambitions, rooted in memories of growing up during the war on drugs, pulled her back. 

“Every summer there would be a wave of mostly African American men who were taken from the community,” Brasfield, 38, recalled in a recent interview. “And then there would be a new group trying to reintegrate [from prison] into the community, most of the time unsuccessfully.” 

With the support of a program encouraging more lawyers to practice in Arkansas’ underserved areas, Brasfield finished law school in 2015 and went on to do her part to fill a national shortage of attorneys in rural America.

Simpson's story includes link to many sources, including several articles I have co-authored.  She touches on not only the situation in Arkansas, but also Nebraska, California, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Maine, South Dakota, North Dakota and Georgia.