糖心vlog Investigates: Iowa's growing legal deserts hurt access to justice
The southeastern Iowa town of Bloomfield is surrounded by farmland, yet in the heart of a desert. Kelly Lynch calls it home.
"I've always had a sense of home. It's like comfort to me," said Lynch, an attorney at Lynch Law Offices in Bloomfield.
The rural community serves as the Davis County seat. The county is one of 46 legal deserts in Iowa. Lynch is one of three full-time private attorneys in the entire county.
"We're not only getting Davis County work, we're getting a lot of the surrounding areas, as well," she said. "It just keeps coming, but you can definitely tell there is a shortage."
The issue is supply versus demand. According to the Iowa State Bar Association, there are roughly 10,000 practicing attorneys in the state. The National Center for State Courts defines a legal desert as a community that has few to no options for legal representation.
Right now, nearly half of Iowa's 99 counties have 10 or fewer lawyers helping Iowans with their legal needs. In 17 counties, there are fewer than five. In Ringgold County, there are none.
After graduating law school in 2023, Lynch followed in her father鈥檚 footsteps joining him at his private practice in Bloomfield, a legal fixture in the family鈥檚 hometown for more than 30 years.
"I have the connection to come back, and I mean that's a big part of it," she said.
Lynch is the exception. A 2022, Iowa State Bar Association Young Lawyers Division survey of young lawyers found less than 9% of graduating law school students are expect to live and practice in rural Iowa.
Nationally, the number of people pursuing law degrees is down, but in Iowa, enrollment is up at the state鈥檚 two law schools. Last year, the University of Iowa law school saw a 2% increase in enrollment. Drake University's law school saw a 6% bump.
Drake University's law school students are mixed as to where they want to begin their careers. Second-year law school student Mackenzie Roberts is from a rural community but is unsure she wants to return.
"Some things concern me, like pay and the opportunities that are available," she said. " I know Wapello County needs attorneys right now, so I'm not ruling that out."
Before students can become practicing attorneys, they must pass the bar exam. In Iowa, on average, about 270 people take the bar exam every year, and about 75 percent of them pass. Iowa State Bar Association president Melvin Shaw is pleased with that percentage but says the issue is graduate retention.
"The average debt is over $90,000 for law school, and that is a pittance, especially if you're going into an area that may pay $50,000 or $40,000 a year," Shaw said.
Attorney wages in Iowa are among the lowest in the country, and without more new lawyers staying in the state, Shaw expects the rural attorney shortage will expand into larger cities.
"In Iowa, about 32 percent of our attorneys are 65 years or older, and that means that in due time, some of these counties will have even fewer attorneys," Shaw said.
With limited access to legal help in underserved areas, Iowans are now being forced to act as their own lawyers.
'You don't realize what you don't have until you do not have it," Shaw said.
The issue was the sticking point of this year鈥檚 Condition of the Judiciary. Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Susan Christensen says more Iowans are navigating the courts alone.
"The numbers are striking; in fiscal year 2024, over 9,000 divorce cases were filed, and in two-thirds of those cases, at least one party represented themselves. In civil cases, 78% involved at least one self-represented litigant," she said.
The majority of them are working Iowans who simply don鈥檛 have access to a lawyer or can鈥檛 afford one. You can read more on Christensen's report .
"People don't think like lawyers. It's not their job, and so the outcome tends to be pretty bad," said Iowa Legal Aid executive director Nick Smithberg.
Iowa Legal Aid is the only statewide provider of civil legal services for low-income people. It acts as the safety net for Iowans before they self-represent. The nonprofit's largest areas of work are in housing, family law and domestic violence.
"A lot of people are forced to navigate a system where they have consequences that are very dire compared to criminal cases," Smithberg said. " The civil and criminal systems do not work without lawyers, and if you don't have lawyers, it really kind of throws a monkey wrench on the whole system."
Iowa Legal Aid employs more than 70 attorneys and offers free counsel to low-income women, seniors and minorities statewide. It says the shortage of lawyers is keeping them from helping more people in need. To help reduce the barrier to legal access, the organization is rolling its so-called Justice Bus into legal deserts.
"We can't be there all the time, but we can be there sometimes, so if we can have a pop-up legal clinic from time to time and partner with people in the community," Smithberg said.
The bus plans to tour the state starting later this month in Madison County.
A bill that would have helped recruit attorneys and pay to retain them to work in rural communities failed to advance for a second time in this legislative session. House Rep. Brian Lohse plans to reintroduce HF 1001 in next year's session.
If you are in need of , Iowa Legal Aid is taking applications. The Iowa Judicial branch offers resources and .