Mayor went to law school to address attorney shortage in small town
Thomas Estabrook is the mayor of Bicknell, Indiana. He decided to go to law school to address the attorney shortage in his community. (Photo from the city of Bicknell, Indiana, website)
A mayor from a small town in southwestern Indiana decided to go to law school to address the attorney shortage in his community.
Thomas Estabrook is the mayor of Bicknell, Indiana, which has about 3,000 residents but no lawyers, according to WRTV. Twice per week for the past four years, he drove more than four hours round trip from his home to Indianapolis, where he attended the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law. He also took a lot of online classes.
Estabrook graduated May 17, and is now studying for the bar exam, WRTV reports. He hopes to help Bicknell’s residents with property, wills and trusts, so that they are no longer forced to find legal help in other communities.
“The demand is there, the need is there,” Estabrook told WRTV.
Indiana’s rate of 2.26 lawyers per 1,000 residents was ranked 43rd in the nation in 2024, according to data compiled by the American Bar Association. The national average at the time was around four lawyers for every 1,000 residents.
Indiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Loretta H. Rush recognized this “critical shortage of attorneys” when creating the Indiana Supreme Court’s Commission on Indiana’s Legal Future in April 2024.
The commission—which explored how to improve the law firm business model and professional regulations by creating alternative pathways to legal practice, incentivizing rural practice and public service work and using technology to fill gaps in legal representation—worked quickly.
Its members announced 27 initial recommendations four months later and added 15 additional recommendations in their final report in July 2025. The Indiana Supreme Court issued orders that addressed and took action on each one of those recommendations.
Among the approved proposals are programs to provide startup grants to lawyers who open firms in areas of high need and student loan assistance for law school graduates who practice in legal deserts.
See also:
Indiana is looking at expanding nonlawyer practice and developing nonprofit firms
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