President's page: The Missouri Bar assesses state of legal services in rural communities

Athena Dickson is 2025-2026 Missouri Bar president and a partner at Siro Smith Dickson PC.

Last July, The Missouri Bar established the Special Committee on Rural Practice to conduct an extensive review of what residents in rural Missouri counties may be experiencing in accessing legal services. While there have been informal observations of potential lawyer shortages in certain rural areas, we need comprehensive, data-driven research to determine whether this is a widespread problem and, if so, to understand its true scope and underlying causes. 

The Missouri Bar tasked the special committee with researching and answering several critical questions: 

• Are rural Missouri counties experiencing a shortage of lawyers relative to the legal service needs of community residents?
• If shortages exist, which specific counties or regions are most affected?
• Are there specific practice areas that are most affected?
• How severe are these shortages, and are they getting worse over time?
• What is the current age distribution of rural lawyers, and what does this suggest about the future availability of legal services? 

To help answer these questions and provide a more comprehensive view of the legal landscape in rural Missouri counties, the special committee has launched surveys catered to the public, lawyers, and judges. 

If you are a Missouri lawyer or judge living in a non-metropolitan county, please complete one of the rural practice surveys to help The Missouri Bar better understand the current state of legal services in rural areas. 

Lawyers are encouraged to take the survey at SurveyMonkey.com/r/MoRuralLawyers.

Judges can take the judicial survey at SurveyMonkey.com/r/MoRuralJudges.

Please also share the public survey with friends, family, neighbors, and others living in rural communities. It’s available at SurveyMonkey.com/r/RuralLegalSurvey. 

Along with these surveys, the special committee will be meeting with lawyers and judges for in-person interviews throughout rural regions of Missouri. 

The feedback we collect will help us answer a critical question: Are rural Missouri residents able to obtain a lawyer when needed? 

The committee’s data collection efforts will be used to establish baseline facts about the current state of legal service accessibility in rural Missouri communities. This includes determining the number of practicing lawyers in each rural county, understanding the types of legal services currently available, and identifying any gaps between community legal needs and available services.

Equally important is understanding the barriers that may prevent lawyers from establishing or maintaining practices in rural areas. While various factors have been suggested — such as economic considerations, educational debt burdens, lifestyle preferences, or professional isolation — there has been no systematic study of what actually influences lawyers’ decisions about where to practice. The committee will investigate whether financial concerns are the primary deterrent or whether other factors, like technology infrastructure challenges or family considerations, play significant roles. 

The committee will conduct its data collection throughout this year. Through its comprehensive research, the committee will deliver timely results to The Missouri Bar Board of Governors next spring that can inform future policy and program recommendations. 

I am pleased to report that this special committee has hit the ground running and has taken quick steps to help determine the scope of these core concerns. But we need you — Missouri lawyers and judges — to help provide depth to this project. 

Thank you for taking the time to complete the survey and spread the word, and a special thank you to the committee for its work on this important issue.