New York State Bar Association today adopts rural access recommendations

Coverage on New York State Bar Association's website is here, by Christian Nolan.  The lede for that story follows:    

The report and recommendations of the Task Force on Rural Justice, which includes loan repayment reforms, tuition assistance programs, relaxing residency requirements for public positions and raising hourly rates for assigned counsel, was adopted by NYSBA’s House of Delegates at its meeting April 4. 

“Research suggests that nearly 75% of current rural lawyers will retire over the next three decades with few to no new attorneys ready to replace them,” said NYSBA President Hank Greenberg. “This disturbing trend would only further worsen the existing access-to-justice gap faced by our rural communities. 

“NYSBA is deeply committed to ensuring that all New Yorkers, including rural residents, have sufficient access to justice and we are confident that the task force’s recommendations will provide the reforms necessary to stem the tide of this growing crisis,” Greenberg concluded.

You can read the full report of the Task Force on Rural Justice here.

Congrats to my friend, Taier Perlman, of Legal Services of Hudson Valley (formerly Rural Law Initiative Albany Law School), who co-authored this Task Force report with her colleague Judge Stan Pritzker.