UM working on getting more lawyers into rural areas

Maine Public Broadcasting - According to a June 2014 report, just 10 percent of Maine lawyers in private practice outside of Cumberland County are under the age of 35 and almost two-thirds are 50 or older. Concerned that rural counties will face a shortage of lawyers in coming years as aging attorneys retire, the University of Maine School of Law is partnering with several other organizations to launch a Rural Lawyer Pilot Project. The three-year program will place law students with practitioners in communities that would otherwise have limited access to legal services. UMaine Law School Dean Danielle Conway says lawyers in rural communities have full-service practices. “So we’re looking at these student fellows having the ability to get involved in real estate transactions, family law issues, juvenile issues, litigation, criminal law. We’re looking at these student fellows being exposed to all of these areas of practice,” she says. Conway says, during the admissions process, the program will identify prospective