One Year's Seeding: Looking Back on the Last Seven Years of Maine's Progress Toward Rural Justice

Authors

• Christopher Northrop, University of Maine School of Law
• Seth Main, University of Maine School of Law

Abstract

Nationally, the crisis in access to legal services in rural areas continues to grow despite significant attention and efforts to reverse this troubling trend. This Article explores Maine’s efforts to address our legal deserts. The Article’s starting point is a retrospective look at our 2019 national symposium on rural justice and accompanying Maine Law Review issue. We will try to measure successes and failures, while also addressing the significant impact caused by the intervening pandemic. The Article will then shift to an analysis of the current landscape, focusing on the role of the University of Maine School of Law. We assert that Maine is on the right track, and, with more attention to helping recent graduates successfully start or take over small town law firms, Maine’s next seven years could serve as a national model for rebuilding the legal profession in rural areas.

First Page

347

Recommended Citation

Christopher Northrop & Seth Main, One Year's Seeding: Looking Back on the Last Seven Years of Maine's Progress Toward Rural Justice, 78 Me. L. Rev. 347 (2026).
Available at: https://digitalcommons.mainelaw.maine.edu/mlr/vol78/iss2/6