CANTON, Mo. — Culver-Stockton College recently convened legal professionals, educators, students, and community partners for the kickoff meeting of the Rural Lawyers Project, a new initiative of the Center for Rural Opportunity focused on strengthening access to legal services in rural communities.
The project was developed in response to growing concerns surrounding rural legal workforce shortages, judicial vacancies, and declining access to legal services across many rural regions. Participants gathered to discuss the challenges facing rural legal systems and begin shaping potential approaches that strengthen rural legal capacity over time.
“The conversation reinforced this is not simply a workforce issue,” said Vice President for Strategic Initiatives at Culver-Stockton College Leslie Sieck. “Access to legal services affects how communities function, how businesses operate, and how individuals navigate some of the most important decisions in their lives. The group brought valuable perspective to the table and helped establish a strong foundation for this work moving forward.”
The Rural Lawyers Project is designed as a collaborative, higher education-driven initiative that combines applied research, stakeholder engagement, workforce pathway development, and community partnership. Rather than focusing on a single intervention, those involved in the project seek to better understand the structural challenges affecting rural legal systems while identifying practical, community-informed strategies that can strengthen access to justice.
Associate Circuit Judge for Lewis County Corey Moon helped initiate the project after raising concerns about the growing strain facing rural legal systems and the difficulty many communities experience in attracting and retaining legal professionals, including attorneys and court reporters.
“This conversation is important because rural communities deserve reliable access to legal systems that are functional, sustainable, and ensure due process,” said Moon. “The Rural Lawyers Project creates an opportunity to better understand the issue while also exploring practical approaches that may help strengthen rural legal capacity in meaningful ways.”
Discussion during the kickoff meeting focused on current conditions within rural legal systems, barriers affecting recruitment and retention, opportunities to strengthen pathways into rural legal practice, and potential areas for future collaboration and pilot exploration.
National and state data continue to highlight the urgency of the issue.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, 40% of U.S. counties have fewer than one lawyer per 1,000 residents, a commonly used benchmark for identifying “legal deserts.” In Missouri, more than one-third of counties have 10 or fewer licensed attorneys serving the entire county.
Initial next steps for the project include continued stakeholder engagement, landscape analysis, exploration of partnership opportunities, and identification of areas for early collaborative efforts.
The Rural Lawyers Project is housed within the Center for Rural Opportunity at Culver-Stockton College, a national-facing initiative focused on strengthening the systems rural communities rely upon to function and thrive.
Learn more about information about the Rural Lawyers Project at https://culver.edu/the-center-for-rural-opportunity/the-rural-lawyers-project/. For information about opportunities for engagement, contact Sieck at lsieck@culver.edu.
Contact the Marketing & Public Relations Office, at pr@culver.edu or 573-288-6000 ext. 6728 for more information.
NOTE: A number that appears immediately after a person’s name (i.e. Jane Doe ’18) is a reference to the year that person earned their bachelor’s degree from Culver-Stockton.