It’s hard to believe that this is my last President’s Letter. These last 12 months have gone so fast, and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. The highlight of the year was traveling across Iowa and talking to rural attorneys, law students, judges, legislators, community leaders, educators, and other stakeholders about the rural attorney shortage and legal deserts in Iowa. Going into these discussions, we thought we knew the problems faced by rural practitioners, the barriers to getting more attorneys in rural Iowa, and what actions we should take. From our roundtable discussions, we found many of our assumptions were correct, but the rural Iowans at our roundtables highlighted additional concerns and many other ideas to help address the attorney shortage. From those discussions we were able to put together a comprehensive Rural Practice Report, which you can find at iowabar.org/RuralPracticeReport. This report has given us a good roadmap of action items we can work on to help increase the number of attorneys in Iowa, including rural attorneys. In January, we began to put several of our ideas into action.
Practicing on Mainstreet website: Soon The Iowa State Bar Association (ISBA) will launch a new rural practice website that will be valuable for attorneys looking for rural positions and for rural attorneys that want to hire an attorney or transition their practice when they retire. Thanks to a partnership with Iowa State University, the website also includes great data about each county to help attorneys make decisions on where to look for jobs. The website will also include information on office space available to attorneys. The website should launch in early summer.
Rural practice loan repayment legislation: The Iowa House and Senate both passed HF 2770 this session, and at the time this article was written, we were waiting for the Governor’s signature. This bill provides loan repayment incentives for newer attorneys that decide to practice in Iowa and agree to provide hours of indigent defense services annually. Preference under the bill is given to attorneys that live and practice in rural Iowa. The bill provides loan repayment assistance of up to $10,000 per year for six years and is capped at 25 new attorneys per year with a maximum of 150 attorneys at one time. Our legislative team worked tirelessly on this legislation and helped me get several meetings with legislators and with the Governor.
ISBA Annual Meeting: The ISBA Annual Meeting, taking place June 22 - 25 at Prairie Meadows Events and Conference Center, will include special events related to rural practice. On Monday, June 22, the Rural Practice Track will include sessions on the Rural Practice Roundtable Report and rural attorney succession planning. On Tuesday, June 23, Joshua Hodges will speak on legal marketing in rural towns. Thursday’s session will include a Rural Practice Roundtable from 9 a.m. - 12 p.m., including presentations by Hannah Haksgaard, author of a book on rural practice, a panel of rural attorneys dispelling myths about rural practice, and a roundtable session to discuss issues and solutions for the rural attorney shortage. On Thursday afternoon, the Solo and Small Firm Section will launch its new practice series “Solo & Small Series” that will provide practice management information for solos and small firms over the last half of 2026.
Podcast: Over Christmas, I spent some time looking online for multi-state rural practice seminars and for rural practice podcasts – and didn’t find either. Some universities or bar associations had a podcast episode or two on rural practice, but there appears to be none focusing solely on rural practice and related issues. So, I decided to launch my own. We have filmed the first three installments for “Law on a Gravel Road”, and I’m very excited. The podcast will launch before the end of May, with the third episode launching right before the Annual Meeting. Social media posts for the launch will begin soon and I am hoping the ISBA will place an announcement in the Iowa Lawyer Weekly as well.
Additional work: The rural attorney shortage is affecting the entire United States except for Washington, D.C. Many states have developed initiatives and plans to address the issues, but none of us are working together to share research and ideas. That’s why I created my podcast and why I have chosen a steering committee to help me plan a nationwide rural practice symposium to be held in Iowa in Spring 2027. The location, dates, and agenda will be announced in late summer 2026. We hope this will help encourage collaboration among those interested in rural practice and other rural issues.
I am also committed to continue working on rural practice development with the ISBA after “my” year has ended, hopefully working with the Rural Practice Section. We plan to develop educational materials for students of all ages on opportunities in the legal field. ISU has also expressed interest in partnering with us to develop a strong marketing campaign and educational materials for rural practice and rural issues. I also hope to partner with the law schools, the court, and with governmental agencies on other initiatives over the coming months and years.
When I decided to make rural practice one of the priorities for “my” year, I had no idea that rural practice would also become my passion and my calling. This work is appropriate for my “Half Time” (from the book of the same name by Bob Buford, which I highly recommend). Thank you to the ISBA members for allowing me to serve as your president and to Harry and the ISBA staff for helping me to find my next purpose and calling – and for your full support in my ISBA journey over the past 21 years. Everyone deserves to have a village like you.
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Kathy Law
Nyemaster Goode, P.C.
kklaw@nyemaster.com
515-283-3116
