Totty: Tackling Arkansas’s Legal Deserts

In The Rural Rescue: Tackling Arkansas’s Legal Deserts Through Proven Statutory Reform, Kathryn Totty (University of Arkansas School of Law), examines how successful frameworks for rural recruitment programs in other fields and states can be applied to reduce the rural legal desert crisis in Arkansas communities.

Arkansans—especially rural residents—face a severe lawyer shortage. This shortage forces rural Arkansans to travel long distances for legal advice, and barriers like travel and cost can disincentivize seeking legal assistance at all. Totty argues that limited legal access potentially undermines the rights of individuals and the social and economic stability of rural communities. Many factors deter lawyers from rural practice, yet Totty points out there may be more opportunity in rural areas than law students and new lawyers recognize.

To fully address the rural legal desert crisis, Totty suggests Arkansas consider successful programs from other states with legal desert crises and Arkansas’s own rural medicine incentivization program. For example, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Ohio have incentivized rural practice through financial means: South Dakota and North Dakota have implemented payments for qualifying attorneys in rural areas in exchange for a five-year commitment while Ohio has offered loan repayment assistance for qualifying attorneys.

Totty also cites Arkansas’s Rural Practice Program for physicians which aims to address medical care shortages in rural areas by providing financial incentives such as loan repayment programs and community-funded match programs to medical students who commit to serving underserved areas. The Arkansas Rural Practice Program has seen success in attracting physicians to rural areas and keeping them there. Totty argues that a similar model for lawyers could help resolve the ongoing legal desert crisis in the state.

Totty proposes an Arkansas Rural Attorney Recruitment Program modeled after the Arkansas Rural Practice Program and other rural legal programs across the country to draw attorneys to rural communities and encourage them to stay and practice there long-term. Such a program would aim to close the justice gap in rural communities and ensure all Arkansans have access to legal assistance. Totty recognizes potential financial and participation barriers which may limit the program’s implementation but argues a successful program could have overwhelming benefits for Arkansas’s rural communities.