131: How to Solve the Public Defender Shortage in Rural America w/Patrick Crowley, Michael Naughton and Jonathan Sacks

Today, Hunter spoke with Patrick Crowley, Michael Naughton and Jonathan Sacks to talk through the attorney shortage crisis in rural America and what we can do to reverse the trend. While today's episode focuses a lot on what is happening in rural Michigan, make no mistake, this is a problem facing nearly every state in the country. As rural, small town America has declined over the past decades, it has become harder and harder to entice young public defenders, laden with outrageous student debt, to want to practice in the rural parts of a state. So what can be done? With this conversation, Hunter hopes to spark new conversations and solutions to a problem that is seemingly only getting worse as the years go by.     Guests: Patrick Crowley, Chief Public Defender, Marquette County, Michigan Michael Naughton, Attorney and Partner, North Coast Legal, PLC. Jonathan Sacks, Director, Michigan State Appellate Defender Office   Resources: Michael's Report on the Issue https://michiganidc.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/M.-Naughton-Report-Attorney-Shortages.pdf SADO.org https://sado.org/ MIDC https://michiganidc.gov/ Marquette County Public Defender https://mqtpubdef.org/     Contact Hunter Parnell: [email protected]  Instagram @PublicDefenselessPodcast Twitter                                                                 @PDefenselessPod www.publicdefenseless.com  Subscribe to the Patron www.patreon.com/PublicDefenselessPodcast  Donate on PayPal https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=5KW7WMJWEXTAJ Donate on Stripe https://donate.stripe.com/7sI01tb2v3dwaM8cMN