MADISON, Wis. (WRN/WJMC) — A new study classifies 15 Wisconsin counties as “legal deserts” with insufficient attorneys to represent private clients.
David Peters, a rural sociologist at Iowa State University, led the research team which found 11 percent of rural counties in the 48 contiguous states are legal deserts.
“I heard in a number of communities, for example, that not having enough criminal defense attorneys or not having enough public defenders put a lot of rural people at risk for longer sentences and even wrongful convictions. We also heard that not having enough family law attorneys in these small towns really complicated divorce proceedings or child custody or support,” Peters said.
Peters says because obtaining a law degree comes with a lot of student debt, many attorneys go into private practice in larger cities where the money is. That can put rural residents charged with crimes at risk for longer sentences.
Locally, Washburn County had the most, critical shortage; Dunn and Rusk counties, had urgent shortages; and Barron, Polk and Sawyer counties had emerging shortages, according to the study.