North Dakota takes cue from South Dakota to recruit lawyers

BISMARCK, N.D. — Taylor Olson has just about done it all in the legal profession in her corner of North Dakota.

The Williston city attorney in 2013 and 2014 filled in as interim state’s attorney for Divide and McKenzie counties. She also works as a municipal judge in New Town and as a tribal judge for the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation.

“People think Williston is the edge of the world and that there’s nothing for anybody here,” said Olson, who has practiced in Williston since 2011. “And in all of these areas, we all need the same services that the bigger communities do.”

A shortage of attorneys in rural areas of the state led Olson and others to champion a bill in the 2021 Legislature that established the Rural Attorney Recruitment Program — now open for applications from attorneys and eligible cities and counties until April 1. A second recruitment cycle could come in the fall if all the spots aren’t filled.

The pilot program of the state Supreme Court aims to place attorneys willing to work for at least five years in cities with 5,000 or fewer people or counties with 16,000 or fewer people. Attorneys “must agree to live in close proximity” to the community.

The incentive program is for four initial placements. It’s modeled after a program in South Dakota that currently has 24 participants.

Attorneys in the North Dakota program will receive an incentive of $45,000 given in five equal, annual payments. The Supreme Court will pay 50%, the city or county will pay 35% and the North Dakota Bar Foundation will pay 15%.

The program is open to any attorney, whether they plan to work or are already working in the public or private sector.

Rep. Rick Becker, R-Bismarck, opposed the bill for the program, viewing the state funding as inappropriate and the success of similar programs unclear.

North Dakota’s seven most-populous counties have 87% of the 1,695 licensed attorneys living in the state, according to a 2021 breakdown from the State Board of Law Examiners.

“As a judge, I think it’s hard for the judiciary when you need a state’s attorney and you need defense counsel and you need public defenders and you need assistance for mental health cases … I think it can get difficult and very burdensome for people to travel so much, especially in the winter, to do some of those jobs,” Olson said.

Five counties have no attorneys; 35 counties have fewer than 10 lawyers. The attorneys include ones not in practice, retirees, corporate counsel and judges.

“The joke is that you need two lawyers in every community so you have someone to be on the other side,” Bar Association Executive Director Tony Weiler said.

Remote technology makes many things easier, but a lot of people want to meet face to face with professionals, be it an attorney, a doctor or an insurance agent, he said.

Consulting an attorney is a lot like seeing a doctor, according to State Court Administrator Sally Holewa.

“You’re going to expose your very personal things to them,” she said, as in divorces or complicated probates.

Other work includes real estate, wills, family law, adoptions, guardianships and counsel to local governments.

People also respect a professional they know personally, someone who knows the system and the jargon and different avenues of solutions, Holewa said.

“You may not know the law, but you know how you feel about that person’s abilities,” she said. “I think that’s not a connection you’re going to make looking up somebody’s website or by a random phone call to a stranger.”

Olson said the program might “take a specific type of person, someone willing to jump in the deep end and really put in the time and effort.

“But I think it can be really satisfying for people,” she said.

Weiler sees the shortage as a nationwide, generational issue of younger people wanting to be in bigger cities with others of their age and more amenities.

Northeast District Judge Michael Hurly, of Rugby, is concerned “these courthouses just become museums” in a worst-case scenario of rural decline.

He helped lead the recruitment program proposal, hoping to improve access to lawyers.

At the least, rural residents have to travel many miles to consult an attorney if none is practicing nearby, he said.

Hurly senses a hesitancy among attorneys and young professionals to move to rural areas, but he points out the routine of daily life isn’t much different than in urban areas, especially for parents.

Also, “I think that people get caught up with there’s more things to do in the cities than there is in rural areas, but the question is, do you really ever go and do those things?” he said.

Hurly, 45, prefers the rural quality of life, and he keeps busy with volunteerism and his work.

His vision for the recruitment program is to see at least 30 attorneys participate at some point. Olson would like to see a mentorship component one day.

“When an attorney moves into a community, I think by nature attorneys become very active in the community,” Hurly said. “They’re going to buy a house in the community. They’re going to pay property taxes. If they’re going to have children, those children are going to go through the school. There’s a lot of benefits to the community to do this.”