NC IOLTA’s recently renewed Public Interest Internship Program places North Carolina law students in areas of high need for legal services across the state.
“The Most Rewarding Thing I’ve Ever Done”: Interning in a Legal Desert
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An innovative program funded by NC IOLTA is working to draw more attorneys to the 45 North Carolina counties facing a chronic shortage of legal professionals.
Defined as areas that have less than one lawyer per 1,000 residents, these “legal deserts” — which can occur anywhere but are often rural areas — see a significant portion of needs in both civil and criminal matters go unmet. Following a summit on the issue, called by Chief Justice Paul Newby and then-NC State Bar president Marcia Armstrong in 2023, the NC IOLTA Board of Trustees approved funding to tackle one aspect of the shortage: fewer young lawyers practicing law in small towns.
Interns expressed a greater understanding of what it can mean to practice law in underserved areas.
The board appropriated up to $50,000 to each of the state’s six accredited law schools to fund internships for students with an interest in practicing in these communities. The goal, as NC IOLTA Executive Director Mary Irvine explained, is to help “build that pipeline of students who are committed to public interest work, serving underserved communities and, specifically, going to legal deserts.”
In 2024, the program allowed 24 law students to spend the summer working with civil legal aid providers, district attorneys, public defenders and judges serving in 22 counties designated as legal deserts. When they gathered in September to reflect on their experiences, the interns expressed a greater understanding of what it can mean to practice law in underserved areas.
Sully Bangura, a second-year law student at North Carolina Central University, said he saw firsthand how attorneys in rural communities “make time to focus on people. They make time to focus on those relationships.”
This map of legal deserts in North Carolina — those counties with less than one lawyer per 1,000 residents — illustrates the level of need in many communities as well as the impact of NC IOLTA’s Public Interest Internship Program in giving law students the opportunity to explore practicing in small communities. At top, 2024 interns gather in September to network and share their experiences.
“There was a sense of community even across opposing counsel. Everyone wanted to make sure that people had the resources they needed,” second-year Wake Forest University law student Emmy Scott added.
The participants also shared how meaningful the experiences were for them personally.
“People within the rural community deserve equal access to legal aid,” second-year NCCU law student Kayla McInnis said. “It’s probably the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done.”
This story originally appeared in NC IOLTA’s 2024 Annual Report.