The State Bar Association of North Dakota provided funding for two UND law students to participate in the Rural Justice Program this summer.
Tony Weiler is Executive Director. He says the Rural Justice Program is only a couple years old, but it had previously been funded by the North Dakota Judiciary, but were unable to this year. That's when Weiler says the State Bar Association stepped up to fund the two clerkship positions for the summer. Weiler says the program gives the students experiences working in rural settings, in hopes they may one day return to a rural area to practice.
"We certainly see a shortage of lawyers in our rural areas, in our smaller towns and smaller counties. That can affect people's rights to legal representation, or their ability to get services from a lawyer. So that's why we stepped up to fund these two clerkships and I think it may be something that we will budget for going forward."
Weiler says the students work with judges in a rural county who otherwise wouldn't have clerks. The clerks were paid a 4-thousand dollar stipend.