NE Bar Association promotes rural initiatives

Rural Nebraska needs more lawyers.

Visiting Sidney Wednesday, Judge Joseph Bataillon, Nebraska Bar Association, Richard E. Moberly, University of Nebraska Lincoln College of Law dean, and Ronald Volkmer, Creighton University law professor, promoted legal education and efforts to inspire lawyers to serve in rural areas.

“What we’re trying to do, as three organizations, is talk about access to justice,” Bataillon said.

Of Nebraska’s 93 counties, 11 have zero attorneys and 19 of them have between only one and three attorneys, Moberly said.

“There are a lot of organizations around the state … who look at that and think that presents some real problems with access to justice for the citizens in those counties,” he said. “It’s hard to get business transacted. It’s hard to buy and sell companies, to transfer land, to write wills, to adopt kids, to be defended if you’re a criminal defendant, without attorneys.”

To inspire lawyers to come to smaller towns, UNL has partnered with Wayne State, Chadron State and UNK to offer its Rural Law Opportunities Program.

Rural-area high school seniors are offered four years of tuition-free scholarship toward undergraduate education at one of those three institutions.

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