According to a June 2014 report, just 10 percent of Maine lawyers in private practice outside of Cumberland County are under the age of 35 and almost two-thirds are 50 or older. Concerned that rural counties will face a shortage of lawyers in coming years as aging attorneys retire, the University of Maine School of Law is partnering with several other organizations to launch a Rural Lawyer Pilot Project.
The three-year program will place law students with practitioners in communities that would otherwise have limited access to legal services. UMaine Law School Dean Danielle Conway says lawyers in rural communities have full-service practices.
“So we’re looking at these student fellows having the ability to get involved in real estate transactions, family law issues, juvenile issues, litigation, criminal law. We’re looking at these student fellows being exposed to all of these areas of practice,” she says.
Conway says, during the admissions process, the program will identify prospective law students who are very interested in rural practice and in going back to their hometowns to practice.
“After their first year of study, we select them as fellows to return back to rural communities to do an immersive fellowship with rural lawyers, lawyers practicing in rural areas, and become ensconced in the environment that rural lawyers actually practice in,” she says.
Conway says a barrier to young lawyers practicing in rural areas is the high cost of higher education, both legal and undergraduate, that leaves them carrying a large amount of debt. She would like to see loan repayment assistance associated with the pilot program for lawyers who commit to rural practice. There are plans to seek funds to make that happen.
Conway says the pilot will start by placing two student fellows, with hopes they’ll return for all three summers. The project will have ten slots available over the three years.
