The Rural Lawyer takes a close look at the challenges facing small-town America, where populations are dwindling and aging lawyers are not being replaced by new graduates. With interviews and personal accounts, the book shows how incentive programs can address this access-to-justice crisis. It specifically examines the South Dakota Rural Attorney Recruitment Program, which is the first program of its kind in the US and has seen great success in helping to attract new lawyers to small towns. Chapters also explore the larger context of rural economic development and its relationship to the law. With insightful analysis and real-life examples, The Rural Lawyer provides readers with a deep understanding of the challenges facing rural communities and the role that lawyers can play in helping these areas thrive.

‘This rich and loving portrait of life and law practice in rural South Dakota traces the first ten years of the state’s Rural Attorney Recruitment Program, a pioneering effort to recruit new lawyers to rural communities through direct stipends. Based on in-depth interviews with the first 32 participating lawyers, mentoring attorneys, and key players who brought the program into existence, Haksgaard examines the challenges of building a rural law practice, the importance of community ties and acceptance, and what lawyers bring to rural communities through volunteer and local government work as well as paid private practice. The book is a must-read for bar leaders and scholars of the legal profession, as well as a primer for policy-makers aiming to promote and sustain rural communities.’

Elizabeth Chambliss - Henry Harman Edens Professor of Law Director, University of South Carolina

’Hannah Haskgaard’s study of the Rural Attorney Recruitment Program offers ground-breaking new insights into rural legal practice during the devastating rural lawyer shortage of the twenty-first century. Through intimate interviews with program participants, the book is a compelling tribute to rural lawyers and South Dakota’s efforts to ensure its rural communities prosper.’

Emily Prifogle - Assistant Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law School

‘Haksgaard supplies important data and insights that will be invaluable for legal system stakeholders wishing to ameliorate the rural attorney shortage. The book will also be very useful to policymakers and scholars seeking to support the economic development of rural communities.’

Lisa Pruitt - Distinguished Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law