Kentucky's legal deserts are growing.

Research by the Kentucky Bar Association's Rural Practice Task Force found 28 counties in Kentucky have ten or fewer practicing attorneys and eight counties have five or fewer.

Adding to the concern, many of those practicing attorneys are nearing retirement age.

It's a problem the task force is working to fix.

We used to see more lawyers coming out of law school and going back to their home areas and you just don't see that like you used to.

All schools are generating a record number of lawyers now.

Nobody wants to stay in the big cities, and that's going to be a big problem.

I've seen it a lot over the last 26 years.

Even in areas with a small lawyer population, there used to be one or two younger lawyers.

Now they just aren't there.

So it has definitely become more acute over the past ten years.

How do we draw young people?

I mean, that's kind of the million dollar question for for any place.

One issue that concerns me is just the decline in population over time.

I know that all three of the counties that comprise this circuit, the as far as I know, the population is slowly shrinking and getting older.

From a business standpoint, that's not good.

You know, the longer you're here, the fewer people are going to be walking in the door.

So that's something to keep in mind.

It's hard to assure that you're going to have the kind of income stream that will let you pay your rent, pay your legal assistant, you know, pay all your bills, your vendors, and provide quality legal services and feed your family.

One way we'd like to help address the problem is for these attorneys who are nearing retirement.

We would like to find lawyers who are interested in coming and taking over their practices.

It would help ensure some continuity of representation for clients, and it helps the newer lawyer assure that they're going to have a financially feasible practice when they come to a rural area.

It's hard to really appreciate a career in a small town if you don't otherwise have something already laid out.

I didn't want to go and just put my shingle out.

So I came back and went to work with another lawyer and we shared a partnership until I ran for office.

We are in the process of setting up a survey to reach out to rural lawyers to figure out some of the issues, what the barriers they are.

You know, how many people are expecting to retire in the next ten years to get a better handle tangibly on the problem.

And at the same time, we're talking to law students to see what it might take for them to come to rural areas.

And then after that, we're going to come up with some recommendations, hopefully find some ways to establish some partnerships, some scholarships, to start filling the holes that we can identify.

There's a law of diminishing returns, practicing in a big city, whereas the more rural areas are wide open for for folks to come to.

You can have a beautiful practice in a small community.

You just have to approach it differently than I think that you would if you went into a large firm.

You can't really come in this area and specialize, which you could in a big city.

You know, you can be a divorce attorney or a personal injury attorney or real estate attorney in Kentucky.

I mean, in a rural practice, you got a little bit a little bit of everything.

So and again, that makes it exciting.

It doesn't get stale.

Every student will tell you, I'm not going back.

But when you're older and life settles in a little bit, sometimes big city can be very lonely.

It's Where are you getting life?

Are you.

Are you a part of your community?

Are you part of your philanthropy?

Do you feel like you're raising your kids in a community that you would have?

I like being here.

I wouldn't want to do this job in Louisville.

Lexington, Even a place like Bowling Green.

I don't think that I would get as much enjoyment out of it.

But I always wanted to come back home, practice, you know, get back to the family, get back to a slower paced life, big cities, a little bit too fast for me.

I guess it's just always a privilege to come back to the area that you're being and able to make a living.

There's so much, I think, quality you get out of a small town practice is you actually see the people, you know, the people that you can help.

You can identify the needs and see people that really care to make a change.

So something were to happen, you would immediately be arrested for violations.

The KBA is considering a loan forgiveness program to attract new lawyers to rural areas.

KBA President Amy Cubbage says it would apply to lawyers who stay in a rural area for eight years after graduation.