Getting a divorce or asserting a property interest is beyond the reach of many rural Georgians who can’t afford — or even find — an attorney to guide them through the process. It’s a top concern for the Georgia Supreme Court, which has formed a committee to bridge the state’s civil justice gap.
Almost 30,000 Georgians live in counties without a practicing attorney, according to the latest data compiled by the State Bar of Georgia. More than 700,000 other Georgians reside in the 58 counties with 10 or fewer active lawyers.
Metro Atlanta’s five core counties house 35% of the state’s population and 70% of its attorneys. In Fulton County, there’s a lawyer for every 70 people. In counties with the lowest rates of legal representation, there are almost 10,000 Georgians for every attorney.
“When you don’t have access to the courts in some of your most needy circumstances, it’s understandable why people don’t have a whole lot of confidence in the court systems,” said Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael Boggs, who has tasked committee members with recommending solutions by June.
In criminal cases, defendants have the right to an attorney. But that doesn’t apply to civil suits like eviction cases or small debt collection cases. A study by the Legal Services Corp. found low-income Americans did not receive any or enough legal help for 92% of their civil legal problems.
Though poverty isn’t exclusive to rural areas, that’s where the problem tends to be more pronounced. Low-income Georgians in urban communities have greater access to legal aid organizations that provide free information, advice and representation in civil matters.
Atlanta Legal Aid has 150 staff members, including about 90 lawyers, servicing Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Gwinnett and Clayton counties. Each year, around 700 volunteers help with more than 20,000 cases.
Low-income residents in the rest of the state can qualify for help from the Georgia Legal Services Program, which has about 200 employees in regional offices, around half whom are lawyers. In 2023, they handled about 15,000 cases.
“A lot of it just depends on our bandwidth,” said GLSP Executive Director Susan Coppedge, who is on the state Supreme Court committee addressing the civil justice gap. “We can’t represent everyone.”
Divorce and taxes collide in rural Georgia
In Warrenton, about 40 miles west of Augusta, even a simple divorce is too costly for many residents whose median household income is around $34,000.
“I always kind of laugh and say we have divorce season, which is the middle of February to April,” said Warrenton attorney Glee Smith, the only active lawyer in Warren County. “And you can figure that out. Because that’s when they get their tax refunds.”
Like many rural attorneys, Smith chose to practice where she grew up despite the ability to earn much more in a big city. She said she offers reduced rates and payment plans to accommodate the local clientele and supplements her income with rental properties.
Providing some work for little or no cost comes with the territory of lawyering in rural communities, said Jesse Bowles III, who estimates about 20% of his practice is pro bono. Based in Cuthbert, about 45 miles northwest of Albany, Bowles has been one of a handful of active attorneys in Randolph County for 50 years.
Greater access to free legal information and advice would be hugely beneficial for the 2,000 residents of Colquitt in Southwest Georgia, said Malia Phillips-Lee, one of three attorneys in the community about 40 miles from the Florida state line. She said something like a monthly clinic where residents could speak with visiting lawyers about how best to represent themselves in civil cases would make a difference.
“There are a lot of indigent individuals that need access to legal representation, but they’re just not able to afford it,” she said.
In North Georgia, the state-funded Appalachian Family Law Information Center provides free legal information to residents with family law matters who can’t afford an attorney. A University of Georgia study found the project resulted in the faster resolution of civil cases otherwise prolonged by small technical errors such as incomplete paperwork.
Researchers found the lack of legal counsel in family law cases contributes, among other things, to delayed awards of child support and greater demands on state resources such as foster care. Each year, more than 30,000 Georgians represent themselves in domestic civil cases filed in superior courts.
Uniform court forms, remote conferencing technology part of the solution
Part of what makes self-representation so tricky in civil cases is the lack of standardized court forms accepted by all of Georgia’s judicial circuits, Coppedge said. She said she’d like to see more uniform documents that legal aid organizations can refer anyone to, regardless of where in the state they live.
Courts could also make a big difference by using the remote conferencing technology that became widespread during the coronavirus pandemic, Coppedge said. She said lawyers and litigants in rural parts of the state often have to travel hours for a court hearing that might last 15 minutes.
Boggs said the committee may also consider how nonlawyers can be authorized to assist civil litigants who can’t access an attorney, while protecting those litigants. Other states, including Arizona, Utah and Texas, already let licensed nonlawyers help with things like legal document preparation.
“Perhaps access to justice doesn’t always have to mean just access to lawyers,” Boggs said. “(Artificial intelligence), of course, has promise here. We’ve seen, even in the last decade, a growth of online platforms to try to help people.”
Boggs said the National Center for State Courts is helping identify best practices by surveying legal innovations and associated issues in other states.
Part of the solution includes more resources like the law library in Albany and the adjacent Southwest Georgia Legal Self-Help Center that started as a pilot project in 2018 and has served more than 24,000 patrons. Boggs said Georgia’s law schools also have a role to play in bolstering access to legal help in rural areas.
In September, UGA’s law school announced a new program to further address legal needs for rural Georgians. It includes financial support for students and graduates working in prosecutor and public defender offices in rural Georgia.
Peter “Bo” Rutledge, the dean of UGA Law from 2015 through 2024, said the program builds on the school’s existing recruitment efforts, financial incentives and support measures aimed at creating a pipeline for attorneys in rural Georgia. He said the school’s legal clinics and externships are also impacting an increasing number of legally underserved communities, in part due to a partnership with the Callaway Foundation in LaGrange.
About 70 UGA Law students recently provided legal services in more than 30 rural or legally underserved counties in Georgia.
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