May 4, 2016
Rural Legal Practice Initiative well received
Representatives from Kansas State University, Washburn University School of Law and the Kansas Department of Agriculture participated in an open forum on the proposed Rural Legal Practice Initiative on April 22. The initiative is an enrichment program designed to encourage and prepare a select number of K-State pre-law students for legal practice in rural communities.
Nearly 1 million rural Kansans find it increasingly difficult to access quality legal services. The Rural Legal Practice Initiative aims to address this problem by introducing K-State pre-law students to the wide variety of legal specialties needed — and career opportunities available — in rural communities. Alongside Washburn Law faculty, the Kansas Department of Agriculture, and perhaps additional partners, Daralyn Gordon Arata, the pre-law advisor at Kansas State University, will help students in the program benefit from experiential learning, mentoring, individual and group immersion trips, topical lectures and interaction with expert guest scholars and practitioners.
K-State pre-law thanks Shawn Leisinger, director of the excellence program; Aid M. Alaka, associate dean; David E. Pierce, professor; and Thomas J. Romig, dean, all of the Washburn University School of Law, for their participation on the April 22 panel and, moreover, their support of this initiative. We also would like to thank Robert Large, chief legal counsel, Kansas Department of Agriculture, for his participation and support, and acknowledge K-State guests from admissions, New Student Services, the College of Agriculture, Global Campus, political science, sociology, and K-State Research and Extension, all of whom contributed to the forum.
For more information, please contact Daralyn Gordon Arata at darata@k-state.edu.