Vice Dean and Clinical Professor Bernadette Gargano and Hon. Michael Mohun ’80 (ret.).
Building Toward Justice in Rural Counties
Sometimes ensuring access to justice is a numbers game. And in New York’s rural counties, the numbers can be daunting. Only four percent of the state’s lawyers serve in rural areas. Of those who do serve, many are approaching retirement. The result is a welter of problems: too few lawyers to serve as assigned counsel, too few specialists available in needed practice areas.
A UB School of Law initiative in conjunction with the state’s Office of Court Administration is seeking to rebalance the scales. The UB Law Rural Justice Initiative, led by Bernadette Gargano, vice dean for experiential education and social justice initiatives, and adjunct instructor Hon. Michael Mohun ’80, aims to show law students that rural practice offers unique satisfactions and plenty of opportunity.
“Not only is there a current crisis in representation, but the crisis is getting worse as attorneys retire,” says Gargano. “Critical constitutional protections are also at issue, especially in mandated assigned counsel programs for criminal defense and family court issues involving children.”
Nearly 50 of New York’s 62 counties have fewer than 200,000 residents, says Mohun, a retired Wyoming County judge. Urban counties may have 40 residents per practicing lawyer; in rural counties, the ratio might be more than 200 to 1.
By attracting newly admitted lawyers to practice in rural counties, the Rural Justice Initiative hopes to take a step toward equity. “This could be a sea change in driving students to rural practice,” says Mohun. “We want to introduce these young law students to the rural practice world, and we want them to be embraced by these communities.”
The initiative envisions several solutions.
Under a program called Rural Pathways, the Office of Court Administration will fund paid summer internships for law students in rural counties. Next summer, 18 counties will have intern placements in their court systems, including one each in Wyoming and Chautauqua counties.
Additional aspects of the law school’s initiative include developing a curriculum geared toward rural practice and a proposed Rural Justice Scholars Program, modeled after the highly successful Pro Bono Scholars Program. Fellowships will be made available to third-year law students who’ll spend their final semester working full time in a rural public defender’s office or district attorney’s office, earning a salary and academic credit. Students may also be able to take the bar exam in February, jump-starting their legal careers.
Mohun says these combined efforts can both raise awareness of rural practice and dispel some false assumptions. “Perhaps rural practice has been seen as not glamorous,” he says. But he notes that one can make an excellent living as a country lawyer.
Vincent Hemming ’00, joined the Wyoming County District Attorney’s Office right after his law school graduation and has been there ever since. Hemming, recently elected to the DA position, says hiring has sometimes been a struggle. But, he adds, “when people do come to interview, you can show them the opportunity to work out here, how it’s a good environment and a good court system, and they stay.”
Not to mention, he notes wryly, unlike in the city, parking is a snap.