OBERLIN, Kansas — Steve Hirsch serves as county attorney in four counties and as city attorney in 20 communities in western Kansas … and he has even more jobs.
The 64-year-old also files income tax returns, helps handle affairs after someone dies and has been a member of nearly every civic organization that will have him.
Walk down the street with him, and it feels like everybody knows Hirsch and he knows the communities he serves.
People wave at him as he walks through downtown Oberlin. Businesses line the well-preserved Penn Avenue — a brick road that feels like an old west cow town.
Hirsch knows the history of each building. He even knows when the brick road itself came to town.
“They were just doing dirt, these were dirt roads. That changed in 1926,” Hirsch said.
He knows the community like the back of his hand, but the question Kansas lawmakers and attorneys across the state have to answer is: What happens when legal pillars like Hirsch retire?
Filling the gap
Rural attorney numbers continue to decline due to a graying community of lawyers serving as county and city attorneys across the state.
It takes a specific type of attorney to want to serve in rural Kansas. The pay on average is significantly less than their urban counterparts.
If these jobs aren’t filled rural Kansans will continue to have less representation. The non profit legal aid company Legal Services Corporation found that at least three-quarters of rural households face at least one civil legal issue every year, but more than 85% don’t receive enough legal help.
A rural lawyer has to have the right mindset too.
Someone who eschews modern conveniences like big box stores and restaurant options in favor of wide open spaces. A lawyer who needs to be a jack-of-all-trades instead of being specialized in one legal area.
Kansas lawmakers are hoping to find more young lawyers that have the rural mindset. A new law pays incentives to lawyers that practice or plan to practice in rural areas of the state.
People like Hirsh would leave a big gap in the community if they aren’t replaced. He’s not only a lawyer, but also as a leader and a confidant.
Now nearing retirement age, Hirsch is mentoring the next generation of rural lawyers that the new law could help create.
