October 26, 2024
Despite more than 1.3 million lawyers practicing in the United States, access to legal services remains a significant hurdle for the one in five Americans who live in rural areas. As rural populations shrink and older attorneys retire, the imbalance in legal services is growing. According to the ABA’s 2020 Profile of the Legal Profession, some 40 percent of all U.S. counties have fewer than one lawyer per 1,000 residents, creating what are known as “legal deserts.”
New Hampshire is not immune to this phenomenon. While the state averages 2.5 lawyers per 1,000 residents, the distribution is uneven. In Coos County — geographically, New Hampshire’s largest country, with a population of about 31,000 — there are a grand total of 12 lawyers. Sullivan County, which has a population of about 45,000, has 35. In sharp contradistinction, there are more than 900 attorneys in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire’s most populous county.
For about 35 years, I was a contract attorney in New Hampshire; I had a contract with the State to provide criminal defense services to clients who could not afford an attorney but whom, for whatever reason, the Public Defender could not represent. It has now reached the point where some counties do not have any contract attorneys.
Meanwhile, close to 40% of the practicing attorneys in New Hampshire are 60 or older and are (like me) approaching retirement. The problem of “legal deserts” is likely to get worse before it gets any better.