In Know Your Rights! A Field Experiment on Legal Knowledge, Property Rights, and Investment in Kenya, Adam Aberra and Matthieu Chemin (both Economics, McGill University, Montreal) illustrate the impact of legal trainings regarding property rights on landowners in Kenya and emphasize that this low-cost intervention increases security in property rights and promotes economic development.

In Legal Deserts and Spatial Injustice: A Study of Criminal Legal Systems in Rural Washington, authors Lisa R. Pruitt (University of California Davis Law), Jennifer Sherman, and Jennifer Schwartz (both Sociology, Washington State) delve into the criminal legal systems across several rural counties in eastern Washington to understand the problems these communities face and how those problems impact legal representation for indigent defendants.

Sarah Vogel reviews The Rural Lawyer: How to Incentivize Rural Law Practice and Help Small Communities Thrive by Professor Hannah Haksgaard of the University of South Dakota Knudson School of Law. Despite many challenges, South Dakota has been a pioneer in supporting and enhancing the delivery of rural legal resources, and this book gives an inside view of these efforts and issues.

In A World-Threatening Feeling: Grief, Moral Injury, and Institutional Loss in Rural Courts, author Michele Statz (Minnesota Medical School and Minnesota Law) examines how technologies first implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic continue to reshape rural judicial systems. Statz argues these tools contribute to a loss of connection between rural judges, attorneys, court staff, and parties which further undermines the sense of purpose many rural practitioners once felt in their work.

In Buying Time, authors Christopher J. Ryan, Jr. (Indiana Law) and Cassie Chambers Armstrong (Louisville Law) set out to consider how both access to legal representation and extended length of proceedings result in more favorable outcomes for tenants facing eviction proceedings and identify whether the same is true for rural communities.  

The Rural Reconciliation Project hosted Professor Hannah Haksgaard of the University of South Dakota Knudson School of Law to discuss her new book on rural attorneys in South Dakota.

The Rural Lawyer: How to Incentivize Rural Law Practice and Help Small Communities Thrive is the culmination of a series of interviews Professor Haksgaard conducted with South Dakota’s Rural Attorney Recruitment Program participants. These interviews highlight the experiences of participating attorneys, reveal the program's impact, and deepen understandings about what practice in rural communities looks like. 

In It’s on All the Time in Our House: Police Scanners and Everyday Rural Life, author Michael Branch (Sociology, Hartwick College) explores the long-time use of police scanners by laypeople in a rural town in upstate New York. He argues that, despite the perceived community benefits, there are also unforeseen consequences for those living in the community.

Book Talk Event - The Rural Lawyer - Prsented by Professor Hannah Haksgaard - October 9, 2025 at Nebraska College of Law

In Indian Country Lawyers: A South Dakota Survery, authors Hannah Haksgaard and Bryce Drapeaux (both South Dakota Law) address the access to justice crisis experienced by Native American communities in South Dakota. They present data on the lack of available, licensed Native American attorneys on and near reservations to develop an accurate understanding of the extent of the shortage.

In Learning the Rural Practice of Law, author Ashli R. Tomisich (Wyoming Law) discusses the lack of experiential learning in the law school curriculum and how this gap contributes to students being unprepared to enter rural practice.

In One Crisis or Two Problems? Disentangling Rural Access to Justice and the Rural Attorney Shortage authors Daria F. Page and Brian R. Farrell (University of Iowa College of Law) examine the relationship between rural access to justice and a growing shortage of rural attorneys. In particular, the authors argue that conflating rural access to justice with a shrinking number of rural attorney’s fails to effectively address rural justice access.

In Pretrial Justice in Out-of-the-Way Places – Including Rural Communities in the Bail Reform Conversation, Jordan Gross (Idaho College of Law) addresses bail reform movements and advocates for the implementation of varied approaches best suited to each jurisdiction’s “constitutional limitations” as well as the individual resources of each community. The author presents a high-level view of bail reform strategies followed by a state-specific inquiry into the bail reform tools implemented by rural communities in Montana.