Attorneys working in rural parts of the state say they have their work cut out for them. Vacant positions showing up for those who are retiring. Each attorney in select counties, sometimes dealing with dozens to even hundreds of active cases at any given time. They say they would like to see more positions in their areas be filled soon.

Somerset County Acting District Attorney, Molly Metzgar, says this is just the active cases, and the cases on hold remain the submerged part of the iceberg. “Currently, we’re running at about a thousand cases, so there's only five attorneys in the office, so I'm sure you can do the math on that, it’s about two hundred, if you split it up evenly.” says Metzgar.

Attorney, Megan Will, says she agrees that there is an excess amount of clients to take care of. She says she has had to deny service, because of all the inquiries. “I have an assistant, she works part time. She's wonderful, but the buck stops here. So, I had a client that needed to be released from incarceration today. That's not something she can handle. I have to handle it.”

Lawyers are reflecting on the demographic for rural attorneys in P.A.. They say there is an imbalance in age.

“After speaking with some other attorneys in town, you know, it would be nice to see more younger attorneys coming into the area. I think that the average age of our bar association members here in Somerset is a little bit on the older side.” says attorney Grant Shonesky, who works with attorney Matt Zatko, in Somerset.

He says he doesn’t see the shortage of attorneys as a problem. He says the abundance of work on their end is just right.

Metzgar says that some of the clerical positions are starting to fill in Somerset, but says the overall situation with vacant lawyer positions may be here for some time.

ncG1vNJzZmivmpawtcKNnKamZ56axLR7y6iamqRfqMGzwcago6Kml2LEqsDHZphmpJWcrq15y6iYnWWiqr%2BiuIyaq62noqOyur%2BMoqVmqJWju7TFy6%2BYp6GRYrWwvMRmnaiqXaeyqrrFqKmcnZ2au7W%2FjJqkopxdp7K1tdGepJ6mpKh6orrDZqmiq5mjtG6vwKycpaeRmcA%3D