New Mexico could consider licensing alternatives to address rural lawyer shortage

Two New Mexico Supreme Court justices updated state lawmakers Tuesday on their efforts to address rural lawyer shortages, and broached the idea of joining the growing number of states to implement alternative licensing to the bar exam.

Several challenges contribute to the state’s lawyer shortage. New Mexico has just one law school — at the University of New Mexico — and it produces about 100 graduates per class, Chief Justice Julie Vargas and Justice C. Shannon Bacon told lawmakers on the state Legislature’s interim Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee at a hearing in downtown Albuquerque. At most, UNM’s program could produce 120 graduates annually, which would still do little to address severe lawyer shortages.

In addition, New Mexico is predominantly rural and has among the highest poverty rates in the nation, both of which create barriers along the traditional path to becoming an attorney. 

For example: the cost of the bar exam — a licensure test required to practice law in specific states. In New Mexico, Vargas said, it’s not uncommon for New Mexicans to spend in excess of $6,000 when preparing for and taking the bar exam.

Subsequently, the majority of New Mexico counties have fewer than one attorney per 1,000 residents, the justices said, and four counties do not have a single lawyer. About 85% of lawyers who are both licensed to practice in New Mexico and live in the state reside in Albuquerque, Santa Fe or Las Cruces, they said.

To address the issue, Vargas and Bacon outlined a potential New Mexico program akin to an apprenticeship: Immediately after finishing law school, a graduate could begin supervised practice at an established law firm and receive full licensure after completing a certain number of training hours and submitting their work to bar examiners. More than a dozen states, the justices noted, have already implemented alternative paths for becoming a lawyer.

“You can’t go out and practice on your own, but you can go out and do anything else a lawyer can do,” Vargas told lawmakers. “We’re doing everything we can to solve this problem and this is one of the pieces.”

Sen. James Townsend (R-Artesia), asked the justices if such an approach would truly ameliorate the state’s lawyer shortage — or if it would give the workforce an influx of neophyte attorneys.

Bacon responded that she views the alternative pathway to becoming a lawyer much like a medical student’s residency.

“There’s four years of training and then a residency. We don’t say you’ve had four years of training, now you’re a doctor,” she said.

New Mexico’s challenges with legal representation in rural areas extend beyond issues with law schools and licensure, Vargas and Bacon said.

To that end, the state recently announced several law students will get hands-on experience in rural towns this summer. A dozen second- and third-year UNM law students are working as judicial externs in several rural judicial districts. The program is part of the state’s Rural Justice Initiative.

Vargas and Bacon said that non-attorney legal professionals could also be an important piece of the puzzle in non-urban areas. They asked the panel of lawmakers to raise their hands if they receive medical care from a nurse practitioner rather than a medical doctor — nearly everyone raised their hand.

The state Supreme Court has an Authorized Justice Practitioner Study Committee, which is set to issue recommendations later this year about giving legal duties to professionals who aren’t lawyers, such as paralegals.

In court, these professionals could help the exceedingly high number of New Mexicans who navigate certain areas of law, such as landlord-tenant disputes, family court or wills and estates, with no representation, they said.

“Lawyers aren’t going to solve all the problems of New Mexico — there aren’t enough of us,” Bacon said.