Talk Justice, an LSC Podcast: Rural America’s Access to Justice Crisis
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Carl Rauscher
Director of Communications and Media Relations
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WASHINGTON—Legal experts discuss the access to justice crisis in rural America on the latest episode of LSC's “Talk Justice” podcast. Jason Tashea, a member of LSC’s Emerging Leaders Council, hosts the conversation with guests Michele Statz, anthropologist of law at the University of Minnesota; Mark Palmer, chief counsel of the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism; and Anne Hoefgen, executive director of Legal Services of Northwest Minnesota. Their conversation highlights the issues contributing to growing “legal deserts,” the consequences of unmet legal need in rural areas and efforts to address the digital divide.
One factor contributing to the dearth of lawyers available to help rural Americans is the wage disparity between rural and urban areas, as well as private and legal aid attorneys. A statewide coalition in Minnesota has set benchmarks for improving legal aid salaries with support from the state legislature.
“Salary improvement is necessary—you know, we are professionals, we are lawyers, and we have people coming out with student loans,” Hoefgen says. “The salary issue is a crisis for legal aid across the country.”
The rural justice gap carries ramifications beyond the legal and economic consequences.
“Overwhelmingly so many legal issues like eviction [or] intimate partner violence concerns are intrinsically related to health and the sort of precarity that a lot of low-income individuals experience, so we see the compounding of health needs over time in rural spaces,” says Statz.
This also works in the reverse, she explains, as rural communities’ lack of access to vital medical services like mental health or substance use disorder treatments leads people to legal troubles.
Remote court during the pandemic has had mixed effects on rural access to justice. Legal aid attorneys are better able to attend hearings to represent clients. However, some rural clients struggle to access the technology needed to participate. To extend access to those in need, Minnesota Legal Services Coalition has created Justice Buses that function as mobile legal aid clinics, and put legal kiosks with the necessary tech in various community access points.
“They are in areas where there are not staffed legal aid offices, and frankly oftentimes there aren’t even lawyers,” Hoefgen says. “So, they’re providing that access to try to bridge the digital divide, because the reality is Zoom court is not going away.”
Talk Justice episodes are available online and on Spotify, Stitcher, Apple and other popular podcast apps. The podcast is sponsored by LSC’s Leaders Council. The next episode of the podcast will provide a look at how the pandemic has impacted pro bono legal services.