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Document Type

Article

Abstract

Rural legal deserts have become a growing topic of interest to legal scholars and social scientists in the U.S. However, current research is limited by measurement issues and by the lack of national-scale analyses. To address these limitations, we identify legal deserts by applying latent profile analysis to lawyer gap rates for N = 2,307 non-metropolitan counties in the U.S. Lawyer gap rates are calculated as local demand for lawyers minus the local supply, using employment in private practice law offices from the Census Bureau. Next, we statistically describe the spatial, demographic, economic, and social characteristics of legal deserts. We then critically review, and offer recommendations to improve, existing policies to address lawyer shortages in rural areas. Our first finding is that there is no binary definition of a legal desert, rather it falls along a continuum based on severity of lawyer gap rates. Second, legal deserts affect over half of non-metro counties, but are concentrated in a few states in the West and South. Third, we find the American Bar Association’s definition of a legal desert is too high for use in policy; and we recommend lowering the threshold from 1.0 to 0.5 lawyers per 1,000 residents. Fourth, lawyers in legal deserts earn about the same as lawyers in other non-metro counties, suggesting financial incentives may be less effective. Legal deserts also tend to be more distant, disconnected, diverse, and disadvantaged. This limits the use of mobile legal clinics and tele-legal services; and it requires lawyers to have proper language and cultural competencies. We recommend licensed legal paraprofessional programs as a long-term solution to address legal deserts. Lastly, we recommend that communities promote legal consciousness in their community to improve people’s awareness of their legal rights, the legal process, and how to access legal services.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.70657/SDLR.V70.I2.253

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