BLOOMINGTON, Ind (WISH) — According to the Indiana University Maurer School of Law, the Hoosier state ranks near the bottom, 44th in the nation, for ratio of residents to lawyers.

Maurer launched its Rural Justice Initiative in 2019 to address the problem.

Anne McFadden, associate dean for student services at the Maurer School of Law, said that students spend their summers helping judges in rural courtrooms throughout southern Indiana “doing factual research, doing legal research, helping them draft opinions and orders.”

The goal was to encourage the soon-to-be lawyers to practice law in small communities that lack enough attorneys.

“It opens their eyes to the shortage of lawyers because you have a lot of underrepresented people coming before the judges, and then maybe you have people that are represented, but they are represented by public defenders who have a very large work load.”

McFadden says Indiana’s shortage was created in part from a wave of attorneys who retired.

IU Indianapolis’ McKinney School of Law has launched its own Rural Justice Initiative to help staff the offices of prosecutors and public defenders. Although every Indiana county has a judge, some have so few attorneys that people in those counties needing legal help have to hire someone from out of town. Sometimes, the only way that attorney can appear in court is through a video conference.

Other Hoosiers simply can’t afford to hire a lawyer at all.

McFadden said, “If you are a person who you aren’t poor enough to have a public defender, but you don’t necessarily qualify for a civil legal legal attorney through Indiana Legal Services, it’s a little bit harder.”

Pay is also an issue keeping some new attorneys — especially recent law school graduates who are still paying off debt — from wanting to practice in small Indiana communities.