Law‑school partnerships pitched as fix for rural lawyer shortage
Witnesses at the House Criminal Jurisprudence interim hearing said rural Texas faces a shortage of prosecutors and defenders and urged stronger law‑school pipelines, funded externships, scholarships and loan‑repayment pilots to recruit and retain attorneys in small counties.
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Pamela Metzger, director of the Deason Criminal Justice Reform Center at SMU Dedman School of Law, told the House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence that the scarcity of criminal lawyers in rural Texas amounts to a constitutional crisis and a threat to public safety. She said the center’s analysis of state bar and Texas Indigent Defense Commission data shows only a small fraction of the state’s lawyers practice in rural counties, and that many who do not take appointed adult cases, leaving gaps in representation.
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