RURAL JUSTICE
IN NORTH DAKOTA
K AT H R Y N R . L . R A N D
Dean, University of North Dakota
School of Law
In “Addressing the Access to Justice Crisis in
Rural America,” former UND law professor
Robin Runge writes,
A disproportionate percentage of people
living in poverty live in rural communities
in the United States. At the same time,
there are very few attorneys providing
legal services in rural communities, and
their numbers are dwindling. . . . [I]n
many rural counties in the United States,
there are no practicing attorneys, and in
some rural states, residents must travel
hundreds of miles to the nearest legal
services office or private firm attorney.
Similarly, public defenders are scarce in
rural America . . . . In addition, a high
percentage of the few attorneys practicing
law in rural America are aging out of the
practice of law without plans or prospects
for carrying on their practices. . . .
This is certainly true in our own state. A
relatively low number of lawyers serving
a largely rural state means that North
Dakotans face a “justice gap.” The scarcity
of legal services also can have the effect of
making those services more expensive. In
short, too many North Dakotans can’t find a
lawyer, or can’t afford a lawyer.
22
THE GAVEL
With a population of about 740,000 spread
across some 70,000 square miles, North
Dakota is one of five states with a population
density of less than ten people per square
mile. Over half of the counties in the state
have less than 5,000 residents.
With only 1,675 licensed attorneys actually
located in the state, North Dakota also is
among the handful of states with the fewest
lawyers. In 2015, three counties had no
resident attorneys, six counties had only one
attorney (and three of those attorneys were
over 60 years old), and seven counties had
only two attorneys (and five of the sixteen
attorneys in those counties were over 60).
In these 16 counties, there are 20 attorneys
to serve more than 54,000 people living
across 19,000 square miles (over a quarter of
the state’s land area).
To address the justice gap in our own state,
the State Bar Association of North Dakota
partnered with the North Dakota Supreme
Court and the School of Law to create a
Rural Justice Program: “As a first step in
addressing the need to recruit attorneys
to the rural areas of North Dakota, it is
proposed that the North Dakota judicial
system provide for two or three summer
clerkships for law students with judges
who are chambered in and live in rural
communities—communities of 15,000
or fewer residents.” The students have an
opportunity to reside in a rural community
and work with a judge. By exposing the
students to life as a rural practitioner, the
Rural Justice Program encourages students to
consider rural practice after graduation.
Since its implementation just two years ago,
the Rural Justice Pro ܘ[H\