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The Indiana Supreme Court has issued final determinations regarding recommendations to address the ongoing state attorney shortage, including a number of approaches to encourage lawyers to become public defenders or prosecutors.
The state’s high court on Wednesday provided more specific guidance on how to approach 15 total recommendations made by the Commission on Indiana’s Legal Future in June after receiving public comment on the commission’s report over the summer.
Three of the 15 recommendations specifically address the state’s attorney shortage in the public service sector, including public defenders and prosecutors.
The court supports a recommendation to establish a Pathways to Admission Pilot Task Force. As part of the recommendation, the commission suggested establishing parameters for a Multistate Performance Test-like exam based on Indiana law, which would offer an alternative path to law licensure for law students to become practice ready to work in high-need fields or areas.
The commission emphasizes that the alternative pathway is not easier or less demanding than the bar exam, but is differently demanding for law students focused on practicing in Indiana specifically.
“This is not necessarily to create a different way for people to become barred, but it’s to offer an incentive to people that might say, ‘You know what? I’d rather do this, not have to take the two-day bar exam and I’m happy to commit to going back to one of these communities and work for some period of time,’” Anne Newton McFadden, dean of students and adjunct professor of law at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law, told The Indiana Lawyer in August.
In response to the recommendation, the court has directed the Office of Judicial Administration’s Office of Admissions and Continuing Education to establish the task force, which will establish parameters for the pathway to licensure.
The task force is to include experienced attorneys in areas of high legal need and representatives from a legal services organization that provides legal help to people with limited means.
This includes attorneys in public defender offices, prosecuting attorney offices, the Indiana Department of Child Services and will include representatives from the state’s three law schools. The task force is to provide the court with parameters by July 30, 2026, for implementation in 2027.
The court also supports a recommendation to consider ways to consolidate the management of the loan repayment programs proposed in the commission’s interim report, the John R. Justice Program (which offers payment of student loan debt for state prosecutors and public defenders employed in Indiana), and the Indiana Bar Foundation’s existing loan repayment programs.
A resolution under this recommendation could fill the gap between the limited federal grant funding from the Justice Program and the repayments program proposed in the interim report, which is targeted at private practitioners serving in areas of high legal need, the commission said.
The court has directed the Office of Judicial Administration to collaborate with the bar foundation to figure out how to consolidate the management of these programs.
Additionally, the supreme court encourages the state’s legal professional organizations, like the Indiana State Bar Association and bar foundation, to explore the implementation of a one-stop online resource for public service legal internships and careers.
The idea behind the recommendation is to consolidate job and internship listings for public service opportunities so students have an easier time finding them. The Office of Judicial Administration previously hosted a similar page on its website for prosecutor and public defender roles.
Also included in the final determinations is the support of exploring the implementation of advanced courtroom technology, making improvements to the MyCase courts case system, and developing legal professional pipelines.
The court’s order can be read in full online.
The Commission on Indiana’s Legal Future was established in April 2024 to address the state’s attorney shortage, both in general and in rural counties and in areas of high legal need.
Right now, 49 out of Indiana’s 92 counties are considered a legal desert, meaning each county has a ratio of less than 1.0 attorneys to total population.
Forty-two of Indiana’s counties are considered rural, according to Rule 1.2 of Indiana Rules for Admission to the Bar and the Discipline of Attorneys. A rural county is defined as having a total population of less than 40,000, a population density of less than 100 people per square mile, and the population of the largest city in the county is less than 10,000.
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