INDIANAPOLIS—The Indiana Supreme Court wants to hear your input on the state’s attorney shortage.
You can submit your comments until August 29 at 12 p.m. here.
It’s a problem WRTV Investigates exposed starting in 2023, one that is hurting our criminal justice system.
More than half of Indiana’s counties are considered a legal desert, which is when a county has less than 1 lawyer for every 1,000 residents.
The Commission on Indiana’s Legal Future issued its final report that discusses a number of possible solutions including:
- Private sector funding for a deputy prosecutor/public defender scholarship program
- Create a new path to law licensure
- Establish a program that provides loan repayment assistance for lawyers
- Implement advanced courtroom technologies
- Launch education pilot programs in high schools
- Increase small claims court jurisdiction limit from $10K to $25K
- Develop undergraduate-law school pipelines
- Establish a mentorship program for interested public service attorneys
- Centralize job availability for public defenders and prosecutors
Many students live far away from Indiana’s brick and mortar law schools—IU McKinney in Indianapolis, IU Maurer in Bloomington and Notre Dame in South Bend.
The report discusses:
- Reopening Valparaiso Law School which closed in 2020
- Opening satellite law schools in the Indiana University family
- Access to Indiana licensure by graduates of online law schools
WRTV Investigates told you in May 2025 that online law school was gaining traction as a solution to the state’s attorney shortage.
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Nearly half, 46%, of Purdue Global’s students in Indiana live in rural areas or small towns—the areas hardest hit by the lawyer shortage.
“A law school degree from a fully online law school like Purdue Global is less expensive, although the course of study can take more time than a traditional path,” read the report. “And to be sure, there might be some value in having financially invested in your legal education.”
In 2024, the American Bar Association surveyed its young lawyers division on student debt and found the following:
- 85% reported borrowing for law school, bar exam preparation, or prior education.
- The median debt load was $112,500 for law school tuition and related costs and $137,500 for all loans at law school graduation.
- 75% said they had changed their career plans because of their debt.
- 60% said they weighed salary more heavily in choosing a job than they would have before entering law school.
- Over 40% of those in private practice said their debt pushed them to a job that was less public interest focused than they had intended.
- Graduates with high debt loads were unable to save for retirement or accumulate emergency savings and felt they had to delay life decisions like marriage or having children.
State lawmakers filed several pieces of legislation that would have provided funding for the attorney shortage, House Bill 1049 and House Bill 1006, but the legislature stripped the funding portion from the bills.
PREVIOUS | Bill would provide scholarships to future prosecutors and public defenders | Prosecutors ask lawmakers to address attorney shortage
You can see our coverage on the state’s attorney shortage HERE.
