The University of New Mexico’s Utton Transboundary Resources Center presented the Community Governance Attorney Program to an interim legislative committee as a pipeline to place attorneys in land‑grant, acequia and colonia legal work.

Adrian Oglesby, director of the Utton Center and chair of the program commission, described a loan‑for‑service model that pays a chosen third‑year law student’s tuition and stipend in exchange for a two‑year commitment to work for an approved legal provider serving these communities after the bar exam. Oglesby said the commission administers awards and signs co‑funding agreements with legal‑services employers such as New Mexico Legal Aid.

"These communities need more attorneys, and we need more judges who understand these communities," Oglesby told the committee, summarizing the program’s purpose.

The program was revised in the recent legislative session (House Bill 24) to broaden eligible placement partners and to streamline salary and cost‑share rules; Oglesby said HED has promulgated implementing regulations and the commission is recruiting students. Program rules currently permit two enrolled students per year and up to four sponsored attorneys in the field at any time, but current funding supports one student per year. Oglesby said the commission will seek additional HED budget support to expand to two students per year and to cover rising tuition and living costs.

Nick Estrada, the student awarded the current program slot, described his New Mexico roots and his interest in water and land‑use law; he will join a legal service provider after graduation and the bar exam under the program terms. Oglesby noted two prior students are placed through New Mexico Legal Aid and another student deferred placement for a judicial clerkship.

Legislators and presenters described the program as a way to grow legal capacity locally and to ensure that young attorneys enter careers focused on long‑running governance, water and land disputes in rural communities.

Sources and provenance: remarks by Adrian Oglesby and student Nick Estrada before the interim committee; overview of HB24 and program administration.