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Senator Elaine Bowers to Serve on Committee Examining Unmet Legal Needs in Rural Kansas

36th District Senator Elaine Bowers
36th District Senator Elaine Bowers

Chief Justice Marla Luckert signed an order December 1 creating the Kansas Rural Justice Initiative Committee to examine unmet legal needs in rural Kansas related to a shrinking number of attorneys living and working in rural areas.

The trend toward fewer attorneys in rural areas is not unique to Kansas. Attorneys in rural areas tend to be older and some work well beyond a typical retirement age because there is no one available to take over the work.

In Kansas, the ratio of active attorneys to population ranges from two for every 535 residents in urban areas to one for every 808 residents in rural areas. Two counties — Wichita and Hodgeman — have no attorneys. Five counties have one attorney and 11 others have only two.

Eighty percent of active attorneys live in six urban counties — Douglas, Johnson, Leavenworth, Sedgwick, Shawnee and Wyandotte. The counties are also home to just over half of the state's 2.93 million residents. This leaves about 1,500 attorneys to serve 1.25 million Kansans living in the state's remaining 99 counties.

District 36 Kansas Senator Elaine Bowers, a Republican from Concordia, has been appointed to serve on the committee. During a media conference on December 1, Senator Bowers said she's looking forward to working with the committee on attracting attorneys to practice in rural areas.

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The 35-member committee includes representatives from all three branches of state government, the legal and business communities, law schools, and organizations that serve victims of sexual or domestic violence. District Magistrate Judge Regine Thompson of the 12th Judicial District and Timothy Demel, an attorney from Beloit, have also been appointed to the committee.

Over 18 months, the committee will study general population trends, as well as trends related to attorneys and other legal professionals who support court and court-adjacent programs. It will also look for differences in unmet legal needs related to population density.

The committee will explore efforts to recruit and retain legal professionals in rural areas, whether those efforts are in Kansas or elsewhere. It will also look at programs highlighted by the National Center for State Courts Rural Justice Collaborative, a national effort initiated in early 2021 to address justice inequalities in rural communities.

At the end of 18 months, the committee will submit its initial recommendations to the Supreme Court. Recommendations could include proposals to change laws, regulations or rules in an effort to make attorney services more available. They could also include best practices to make it easier to meet legal needs across Kansas, as well as identify what might impede implementing best practices.

(Article written by Toby Nosker, NCKToday.com.)