YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – For 45 years, Attorney Tim Brookes has practiced law, mostly in East Liverpool and Columbiana County. This year, he is taking down his shingle and retiring.
“I never really thought I would retire,” Brookes says, “but it has just become so frustrating … pretty much since the pandemic … nobody listens.”
With overhead costs, such as malpractice insurance, staffing and maintaining an office, plus continuing education, Brookes says he is among several attorneys in the county retiring soon. And he worries no one will replace them.
“We can’t seem to attract enough to keep up with the attrition, so that is definitely going to be a problem,” Brookes says, quipping when he was young, the saying was, there were too many attorneys.
In Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull counties, the average age of practicing attorneys is above 60, according to the Ohio Access to Justice Foundation. The Ohio Bar Association recommends a ratio of one attorney per 700 residents and Mahoning County is close, with one for every 704. But in Trumbull County, that ratio is one per 1,302 and in Columbiana County it’s one per 1,786.
When he started, Brookes says there were about 20 in East Liverpool. He worked for one to gain experience and then he and his office manager, who is now his wife, took over the practice of another attorney, Joe Cooper, in 1995.
Retired Judge Mark Frost says when he started practicing there were about seven attorneys in Columbiana and now there is maybe half that number. He fills in at various courts in Columbiana and Mahoning counties when a judge has a conflict of interest or must take an extended break and sees fewer young attorneys. He believes it is also harder in a rural community for a student or new graduate from law school to get practical experience.
When he first graduated law school Frost said he found being an attorney to be harder work than he expected.
“The good attorneys will always do well,” Frost says, adding being an attorney in a smaller town does not have the stability of working at a larger law firm, which pay salaries.
While some overhead might be the same, a smaller town offers lower rent and cost of living.
“If it wasn’t for the employment by the public defenders and the prosecutor’s office, I don’t know that we would have any young attorneys practicing in Columbiana County,” Frost says.
Attorney Ron Yarwood’s practice is in Youngstown, but he practices in Trumbull, Columbiana, Portage and Ashtabula counties too. He would be considered a younger attorney by the averages even after decades of practice.
He returned to the Mahoning Valley after working at a big Cleveland firm right after law school and finding it was not his “cup of tea.” But Yarwood notes younger attorneys go to metropolitan areas seeking better job opportunities and lifestyle. He also believes some younger attorneys have unrealistic salary expectations and student loans to pay. Plus, they believe they will gain more experience in a bigger city.
“The irony is that if you wanted to get a lot of experience and really, really learn your craft, these are great markets,” Yarwood says of the Valley. He learned the craft of criminal defense by being on the appointment list for indigent defendants.
Besides indigent defense, Amy Milam, Ohio Bar Association’s new Rural Practice Counsel, says the needs in rural and underserved communities include just about everything that is found in a big city – civil, business contract law and estates.
Milam says her goal is to attract younger attorneys to Ohio. Working with youth and leadership organizations, she is trying to show students all the opportunities a career in the law offers.
Statewide, the average age is 54.5, Milam says, and only the counties with the six largest cities meet the threshold of one attorney for every 700 residents.
“We have 73.5% of Ohio’s private practicing attorneys concentrated in just those six counties,” Milam says adding the other 82 counties need to be focus areas.
The Ohio Bar Association CEO testified to state legislators about the need to address the issue with incentives to practice in rural communities.
“So we just want to make sure, that in terms of incentivizing those coming into those (rural) communities, that we can incentivize attorneys that are helping to meet the civil needs as well as the criminal needs,” Milam says.
Ellen Freedman has been the law practice management coordinator for the Pennsylvania Bar Association since 1999.
She sees “legal deserts” in Pennsylvania, describing a few counties where there are a handful of attorneys, all 80 and older.
In 2024, 32.75% of registered attorneys in Pennsylvania were 60 or older and 1,243 were at least 80. She cites Mercer and Lawrence counties among those of concern.
“There is so much work that these aging attorneys can’t retire,” Freedman says.
Attracting younger attorneys to those same communities is a tough sell, Freedman adds, citing a lack of the amenities of big cities.
Some solutions she offers include raising awareness about the quality of life in smaller communities, offering student-loan assistance as a bonus for joining a smaller firm and collaborating with out-of-state firms.
Freedman also says staffing an office is tough as legal secretaries are also becoming rare. In decades past, she notes a woman interested in law might have taken that job. Now they go to law school.
Pictured: For 45 years, Attorney Tim Brookes has practiced law, mostly in East Liverpool and Columbiana County.