The Problem Of Recruiting County Attorneys In Rural Nebraska

By Gordon HopkinsThayer County Attorney Dan Werner will not be running for re-election, that is according to Jefferson County Attorney Joseph Casson, who noted that he, too, will someday retire.Jefferson County Commissioners have met recently to set salaries for elected officials. It was at one of those meetings in November that Casson pointed out there are currently four attorneys in Thayer County, “I don’t think they are going to run for county attorney. So there will be nobody to run.”Casson explained, “So I want you to be aware of that issue. Because when we’re talking about retention, you set a salary to keep your elected official so they’ll run for re-election. That works as long as it’s somebody who is young enough that they’re looking at retaining their position. We have to look at recruitment when we get to the point where our elected officials are at retirement age. And you have to bear in mind that when you set a salary, it’s with the idea of perhaps trying to recruit somebody.”Casson pointed out that the county attorney is not like some other county officials because of the significant educational requirements to become an attorney, “And when it comes to county attorney, it’s more difficult to recruit somebody for that position than it is for the other elected officials. Sheriff is also a unique person that has to have specialized training. It isn’t like just anybody from the county can run for that office.”Thayer is not the only county in Nebraska with this problem. The Clay County Attorney retired earlier this year, before the end of his term. Casson said, “And right now, the York County Attorney is filling in on an interim basis. I don’t know if there’s going to be anybody to fill that position. But out in the rural areas, this is starting to become a problem, to have attorneys come out to the ‘Netherlands’ to start law practice, because it’s not like the olden days.”Casson is concerned that Jefferson County may someday find itself in the same situation, “I will be retiring one day. And as far as I know, there’s nobody to fill my position. And one thing we can do is start now to try to get somebody to move to the county or send them to school, that they would ultimately go to law school and then be available to come back to their county.”Full-Time Versus Part-TimeOfficially, Casson is county attorney only part-time, although Casson said, “As a practical matter. This is a full-time position.”Casson explained the reason the position must be part-time.“A part-time county attorney can do other private matters. Draw deeds, probate a will or whatever,” said Casson. “But a full-time county attorney is prohibited from doing any other legal work. And so it’s essential that we keep our position part-time, because the only way realistically you would get someone to come here is if they could also practice law. And then you have to have a base salary that’s competitive with what any other place would pay.”How The System Has ChangedCasson said, “The system when I graduated from law school, there were probably 15 of us who became county attorneys across the state, fresh out of law school. And it became a way to learn the job. The job is a little more complex now. So what most young attorneys are doing, they are taking deputy county attorney positions in the larger counties then going into private practice. Again, the county attorney has usually been a training ground for lawyers to become private practice defense attorneys.”Casson added, “It’s not like it used to be, where you prosecuted drunk drivers and it’s a fairly easy job. The job has become more complex with more responsibility. So young attorneys are not going to take the boss’ job where you have all the responsibility. You’re going to work somewhere else as a deputy county attorney, so that you don’t have all the responsibilities. That’s the part that’s making it hard to fill these positions, because young attorneys don’t want to take on that all of that responsibility. Because you have to advise the county board, you have to do criminal prosecutions, you have to do juvenile prosecutions, mental health, draw the contracts.Finding Attorneys With Local TiesCasson believes that even a competitive salary is not sufficient to convince a new person to move to a rural community like Jefferson County.Any lawyer who runs for county attorney must live in the county or an adjoining county. According to state statute, if nobody runs for the office, the County Board can contract with any attorney anywhere in the state of Nebraska to do the job.“So we need to realistically look at the future. Some new attorney is going to have to come to town to do my job, because I will retire someday, soon,” Casson said. “I think realistically, the only way you’re going to get somebody to come into a county is they have some ties to that county in some way. That recruiting somebody to move here, it’s becoming more difficult to accomplish.”Casson said, “In my mind, you’re not going to attract someone outside to come here, based on the salary. It’s going to have to be, they have some tie to the community. That’s why I think it’s important that we start the process now, to encourage someone in the area to become a lawyer and devote to public service in the county. Because we’re, quite frankly, we’re losing that notion of public service. Just look around at who volunteers for things. We’re really short on volunteers and people who devote their time to community service. It’s getting hard.”A Possible SolutionCounty Commissioner Mark Schoenrock raised the possibility of starting a scholarship.“If we started some kind of a Jefferson County scholarship,” asked Schoenrock. “Where we would say something like, we will pay for your colleagues and law school, and then you must commit to X number of years of service, to come back as the Jefferson County attorney. Do you think based on what you know, to be the situation here our county, would that be a viable possibility?”“I think it would be. And I don’t know what else we can do to try to recruit somebody to come here, other than to have somebody who’s already here,” said Casson. “And if there’s more than one person interested, then it becomes a competitive process and you pick a person.”Casson added, “And there is a possibility that you’d have somebody who’s already in college, that may be struggling to decide what direction they want to go, whether they want to go to law school. So maybe all you’d have to pay for is law school.”

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