INDIANAPOLIS — A new online law course that will be offered through Concord Law School at Purdue Global aims to fix the ongoing problem of "legal deserts" in communities across the U.S, the university announced Wednesday.
Concord Law School announced it is launching a course this summer called Rural Law Practice in order to empower students who are considering rural law practices.
“Some lawyers in rural areas are working into their 70s and 80s, with no one to take over their practice,” said Shaun Jamison, who is the associate dean of academics at Purdue Global, a public online university that is part of the Purdue University system. “This could be an opportunity for more people who work in rural areas to go into the legal profession and work in the areas they live.
Up to 40% of U.S. counties are legal deserts, defined as counties having one lawyer or fewer per 1,000 residents, according to Purdue University.
Many of those legal deserts are in primarily rural areas.
Purdue officials said a goal of the class is to show the legal needs of various agribusinesses and family farms, while highlighting the shortage of civil and family legal services in rural communities.
Access to justice in rural areas is also a priority for the Concord Law School and its renewed mission to develop partnerships with rural legal communities, according to representatives with the school.
Offering an online rural law course could, they hope, help those who are interested in practicing rural law.
“We believe that the rural economy needs community-based lawyers and legal services. There are people serving rural communities who are serving from large metro areas or even large county seats that have large rural client bases,” Jamison said.
Topics in the new class include not only agricultural law but also succession planning, common legal issues in rural communities, family law, land use and civil law.
Hannah Catt, who is an adjunct professor with Concord Law School at Purdue Global, will lead the class.
“Rural areas and rural residents are a critical piece of the U.S. — economically, culturally and politically,” said Catt, who lives in Fayetteville, Arkansas. “Rural areas are not a monolith; however, some of the common issues are difficulties in accessing legal services due to a lack of technology access, such as limited phone service or broadband access. There also are geographic barriers and a lack of attorneys in rural areas who specialize in complex fields of law.”
The course will also demonstrate how many agricultural law concepts intersect with other legal practice areas.
“My goal is that the students will not only be able to articulate the challenges facing rural clients and rural attorneys, but also how these challenges create opportunities for creative problem-solving as an attorney, making rural practice very dynamic,” Catt said.