Does Arkansas have too many attorneys?
I hear the concern raised frequently in my professional circle. Silver-haired attorneys turn to me in court and declare “there are just too many attorneys in Arkansas these days.” Suggestions like “buy them all a one-way bus ticket,” or “send them to pharmacy school” are commonly thrown around in a joking manner. Except deep down, I know they are not joking.
I am a law student at the University of Arkansas and I will graduate in the spring of 2017. While several of my classmates will move to bigger cities outside our state with larger demands for attorneys, I plan to stay in Northwest Arkansas. I am not deterred by the prospect of attempting to find a job in an over-saturated job market. The brutal truth is there are far too few attorneys in our great state.
For some, it seems like you cannot turn on your television or listen to the radio without hearing an advertisement for an attorney, and some may wonder why we would need more attorneys. To that point I might agree, but I will let you in on a little secret: Out of all 50 states in 2014, Arkansas was … drum roll … dead last in attorneys per capita.
The vast majority of attorneys tend to stay in either northwest or central Arkansas once they pass the bar. This has created an artificial saturation in these two highly concentrated areas but a deficiency in the rest of the state. Although the people and the natural scenery in our rural counties are some of the nicest you will find anywhere in the country, the entertainment, amenities and infrastructure in our most populated areas are drawing and keeping our young professionals from returning to our rural communities.
This is where the problem arises, because despite our sometimes unflattering perception amongst the public, attorneys are the mouthpiece for the poor. In our great country everyone is entitled to his day in court regardless of race, gender, religion or social status. Attorneys, at their best, guarantee the government does not step on the constitutional rights of even the poorest of defendants who cannot afford the luxury of hiring counsel to defend them. Arkansas Access to Justice recently did a study showing that in 25 of our 75 counties, there is less than one attorney for every 1,000 people. This is just an illustration of the deficient number of attorneys in our rural counties.
Just imagine the caseload of a public defender in one of our most rural counties. The Arkansas Public Defender’s Commission collects data on public defender cases in Arkansas and they calculated that last year the average public defender in Arkansas handled 537 clients.
Now, let me ask you, are there too many attorneys in our state?
HOUSTON GARNER
Fayetteville