On one side, 14 of America's largest companies; on the other, a scrappy small town attorney and the sister of an opioid addict.

 

This is the story of a fight between rural West Virginians and the drug distributors that profited from their suffering. At the center is an unfortunately dying breed: small town lawyers.

 

If we want to attract new lawyers to these rural legal deserts, it'll take a larger policy response than tax breaks and student loan relief. Do we have the stomach for what's really needed?

 

Episode Resources

• Connect with Mike Whelan
• https://www.lawyerforward.com/
• ABA's 2020 Profile of the Legal Profession: https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/news/2020/07/potlp2020.pdf 
• Death in Mud Lick: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Death-in-Mud-Lick/Eric-Eyre/9781982105310