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  • 1.  rural practice/Knox county example

    Posted 10-15-2025 13:52
      |   view attached

    Hi everyone, this is an interesting article that I've attached. It follows the ongoing issue in Knox County that is, admittedly unique. However, it presents an issue of what this article refers to as "legal deserts." I'm curious on the group's thoughts as it relates to how to rectify this issue for 5, 10, 20 years down the road and if we don't have attorneys and judges either available and/or willing to practice in smaller counties. 



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    Mark Batt
    Sarpy County Attorney's Office
    Papillion NE
    [Phone] mbatt@sarpy.gov
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    Attachment(s)

    pdf
    knox county.pdf   307 KB 1 version


  • 2.  RE: rural practice/Knox county example

    Posted 10-15-2025 16:01
    Mark,

    I am currently practicing in rural Nebraska, and have done so for the last sixteen years.

    There are no "legal deserts" in Nebraska in my experience.  However, there are many places where it is not financially attractive to practice law.  Those places tend not to have lawyers.

    My take is this; if Knox County or anywhere else feels they need a County Attorney or any other type of lawyer, they need only look at what their local school superintendent makes in terms of salary and benefits.

    It's not terribly surprising that a job that requires more training, education, experience, stress, and longer hours doesn't get filled if the pay is not commensurate with the demands of the job.

    To my knowledge, there are no "legal deserts" where the County Attorney, or a private practice attorney could make close or equal to what the local school superintendent makes.

    Here's a table for reference.




    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: rural practice/Knox county example

    Posted 10-15-2025 17:28
    Since the attachment did not work, here is a link to the salary information:


    Best,

    Brent
    Sent from my iPhone



    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: rural practice/Knox county example

    Posted 10-16-2025 08:08

    Thank you for engaging with this, Brent. I don't want to get into a situation where we go back-and-forth on semantics, but my thought on 'legal deserts' are actually what you described--where it's not financially attractive for attorneys to practice. I think reasonable minds can differ, of course. To that end, I think whatever you call it, I 100% agree with you that there is a financial component to this that can't be ignored. Comparing superintendents and county attorneys is an intriguing argument. I think it's a discussion we need to have. Again, thank you, Brent!



    ------------------------------
    Mark Batt
    Sarpy County Attorney's Office
    Papillion NE
    [Phone] mbatt@sarpy.gov
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: rural practice/Knox county example

    Posted 10-16-2025 11:27

    I want to join in the position Brent expressed. Often the position as county attorney precludes you from other matters, especially in your home county.

    Most of us in rural counties cover several counties in our normal civil practice. Our offices also handle multiple counties as part time county attorneys due to the facts that it is hard to find others and if you do one, you need more to make it work. We also feel a need to help our communities.

    The boards sometimes complicate this by trying to make the position full time for about the money a police officer starts at. I also noted that the current salary in many counties is less than what I made 30 plus years ago when you figure inflation. The boards, however, seem to think that the salary has to be commensurate with the other officers.

    I also agree that there is no real desert as most rural  attorneys maintain satellite offices or travel otherwise to area counties. We, for example, have three satellite offices at the present and practice routinely in many other counties.

     

    Curt  

     

    Curtis A. Sikyta

    Attorney at Law

     

    The information contained in this e-mail message is attorney privileged and confidential information intended only for the use of the individual or entity named above. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please immediately notify us by phone and return the original message to us at general@sikytalaw.com

     




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  • 6.  RE: rural practice/Knox county example

    Posted 10-16-2025 11:32

    Yes this is not about Legal Deserts.  It is about paying County Attorneys and their Deputies fairly.  If that occurs, there will be qualified attorneys who will run or apply for these positions.  The Board of Supervisors/Commissioners need to understand this and if they refuse to address the salaries, the legislature needs to step in.

     

    Julie L. Reiter




    Original Message