Abstract
Wide swaths of Illinois’ rural areas are increasingly being defined as “legal deserts” where there are not enough licensed lawyers to serve the public’s legal needs. In an effort to address this problem, the Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA) created its Rural Practice Initiative (RPI) in 2020. The RPI works to address the legal deserts problem by matching Summer Fellows and Associate Fellows with rural law firms in Illinois and subsidizing their pay. This article provides background on the RPI’s implementation, discusses the first two years of the Initiative, and provides thoughts on future ISBA efforts to address the legal deserts problem.
Recommended Citation
Timothy A. Slating,
The ISBA’s Rural Practice Initiative: Addressing the Problem of Legal Deserts in Illinois,
47
S. Ill. U. L.J.
567
(2023).
Available at:
https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/siulj/vol47/iss4/6