Overview

For years, the “legal desert” in rural Kansas has been a growing concern for farmers, ranchers, and agribusinesses. When a multi-generational farm needs a complex succession plan, or a rancher faces a water rights dispute, the lack of local legal expertise isn’t just an inconvenience, it’s a threat to the operation’s viability. Sub for HB 2595, now enacted as the Attorney Training Program for Rural Kansas Act (Act), is the state’s direct legislative response to this crisis.

Why This Matters for Agriculture

Agricultural law is a highly specialized field involving complex intersections of property rights, federal subsidies, environmental regulations, and unique tax codes. Historically, Kansas has seen a steady migration of legal talent toward urban centers like Wichita, Topeka, and the Kansas City metro area. Roughly 80 percent of Kansas attorneys are concentrated in just six of the state’s 105 counties (Douglas, Johnson, Sedgwick, Shawnee, Wyandotte, and Riley). This has left many of Kansas’s 105 counties with dwindling numbers of attorneys. Indeed, some rural counties have fewer than three practicing lawyers, many of whom are nearing retirement.   Just in the past three years, the number of rural attorneys in Kansas has dropped by another 5 percent. Presently, two Kansas counties have zero practicing attorneys, and approximately 31 counties have less than four attorneys per 1,000 residents.  For the agricultural sector, this creates a “knowledge gap” where the experts required to handle land transfers and agricultural taxation are miles away and overbooked.

Observation: Law schools have contributed to the problem.  For decades, the internal culture of law schools has subtly (and sometimes overtly) steered students away from “Main Street” practice. National law school rankings historically placed a high premium on “BigLaw” placement and starting salaries. To climb the rankings, career service offices often prioritized relationships with large urban firms as those positions boosted the school’s “median starting salary” stats far more than that of a solo practitioner in a rural county.  Likewise, modern legal “education” has increasingly moved toward narrow specialization. In contrast, a successful rural attorney must be a “legal Swiss Army Knife” – handling everything from a boundary dispute in the morning to a complex farm estate tax issue in the afternoon. For years, this “generalist” path was falsely framed as less intellectually rigorous than specialized urban practice.

A significant portion of the remaining rural attorneys are over the age of 60. In several counties, the remaining attorneys are often semi-retired, meaning their capacity to take on complex, multi-year agricultural litigation or intensive estate restructuring is extremely limited.  The “knowledge gap” isn’t just about a lack of lawyers; it’s about a lack of specialized lawyers.  Agricultural law requires a unique “bilingual” ability to speak both the language of the IRS and the language of the farm.  When rural attorneys retire, they take decades of “institutional memory” with them – details about water rights, boundary disputes, and family dynamics that aren’t always captured in a paper file.

Critical Areas Impacted by the Shortage:

  • Succession and Estate Planning: A major risk in farm estate planning is the disconnect between state-level business entities (like an LLC) and USDA Federal Program Payments. An attorney unfamiliar with agriculture, for example, may draft a succession plan that inadvertently violates the “actively engaged in farming” rules, potentially disqualifying the operation from vital federal subsidies.
  • Taxation: Beyond state-level issues, the federal income tax code for agriculture is a labyrinth of industry-specific provisions that bear little resemblance to standard small business accounting. A key example is Schedule J (Farm Income Averaging), which allows producers to mitigate the “bracket creep” caused by volatile year-to-year income by spreading current-year profits over the previous three years’ tax brackets. Also, navigating the I.R.C. §1031 “like-kind” exchange rules requires precise timing and documentation to defer massive capital gains. Furthermore, the handling of Commodity CreditCorporation (CCC) loans presents a unique choice: a farmer can treat the loan proceeds as debt (non-taxable) or elect to report them as income in the year received, a decision that can drastically alter their tax liability depending on current market prices and projected future brackets. Without a specialized attorney (or CPA or other tax practitioner) a farmer risks missing out on these specialized “relief valves.”
  • Water Rights: In Western Kansas, water is a most valuable asset. Navigating state regulations requires a level of expertise unique to the particular rural area.

Mechanics

The Act provides a structured financial roadmap to make it sustainable. Here are the primary mechanisms:

1. $3,000 Law Student Stipends: “The Early Commitment”

This mechanism aims to influence law students before they sign contracts with large urban firms during their second or third year of law school.

  • Eligibility: Restricted to students currently enrolled at the University of Kansas (KU) School of Law or Washburn University School of Law. Eligible students can receive the stipend for up to three years (the typical duration of a J.D. program).
  • Usage: The $3,000 annual stipend is versatile; it can be applied to tuition, fees, books, or other school-related expenses incurred while pursuing the law degree. 
  • The “90-Day Rule”: To remain in compliance, a recipient must begin practicing in a rural Kansas county within 90 days of being admitted to the state bar.
  • Commitment Trigger: While the money is received during school, the “service clock” doesn’t start until after graduation. Recipients must begin their full-time practice in a rural Kansas county within 90 days of being admitted to the Kansas Bar. Also, for every year a student accepts the stipend, they commit to one year of rural practice. A student who takes the stipend for all three years of law school owes the state three years of service in a designated county.

The stipend is technically a form of “conditional debt.” It is only fully forgiven once the student completes one year of rural service for every year they received the stipend. To put it simply, the $3,000 stipend functions as a “work-for-equity” agreement between the student and the State of Kansas. While the money is paid out during law school to help with tuition and books, it is not a “free” scholarship in the traditional sense until the service requirement is met. The forgiveness structure operates on a direct one-to-one ratio. For every academic year a student accepts the $3,000 stipend, they “earn” the right to have that debt canceled by practicing law in a qualifying rural county for one full year.

______________

Example:

  • Scenario A: A student takes the stipend only during their third year (3L) of law school. They receive $3,000. To have that debt forgiven, they must practice in a rural county for 12 months.
  • Scenario B: A student takes the stipend for all three years of law school. They receive a total of $9,000. To reach “full forgiveness,” they must practice in a rural county for 36 months (3 years).

_______________

At the moment the student receives the check, the State of Kansas records it as a loan. It only transforms into a “gift” (forgiven debt) once the service is rendered.

If the student fails to meet the requirements, for example, if they decide to take a job in Wichita or Kansas City instead of a rural area the “condition” of the debt has been breached. At that point the student must repay every cent of the stipend money received.  The repayment isn’t just the principal; the Act mandates an interest rate (typically the prime rate plus 2 percent) be applied from the date the breach occurred.  The student generally has only 90 days to pay the state back in full once they are found to be in breach of the agreement.

Observation: This structure is intentionally rigid to ensure that tax dollars are effectively “buying” legal years for rural communities. For a farm family, this provides peace of mind: the young attorney moving into town isn’t just there for a summer internship; they are financially committed to staying and building a practice for at least as long as the state supported their education.

2. Loan Repayment: “The Retention Engine”

This is the “heavy lifter” of the bill, designed to offset the massive debt that often “forces” new lawyers into (supposedly) higher-paying city jobs.

  • Maximum Annual Benefit: Up to $20,000 per year is paid directly toward the attorney’s outstanding student loans.
  • Defining “Rural”: Under the Act, “rural” is explicitly defined as any county in Kansas except the five most populous: Douglas, Johnson, Sedgwick, Shawnee, and Wyandotte. This opens up 100 out of 105 counties for placement.
  • Practice Requirements: The attorney must be “actively engaged” in the practice of law, which includes private practice, serving as a county attorney, or acting as local government counsel.

3. The Total Forgiveness Cap: $100,000 Over 5 Years

The legislation sets a clear ceiling to ensure the program’s budget remains predictable while providing enough incentive to change an attorney’s career trajectory.

  • Duration: The incentive is structured to last five years, which research suggests is the “tipping point” where a professional becomes fully integrated into a community.
  • The Goal: By the time an attorney reaches the $100,000 cap, they have typically established a home, built a client base of local farmers and businesses, and are far more likely to stay long-term than someone just starting out.

4. Sunset Provision: July 1, 2031

Like many major fiscal initiatives, this Act includes a built-in expiration date to allow for a “performance audit.”

  • Measurement of Success: Before the 2031 deadline, the legislature will evaluate whether the “legal deserts” have shrunk and if the ratio of attorneys to residents in rural counties has improved.
  • Clawback Provisions: Procedurally, if an attorney receives funds but leaves their rural practice early, the Kansas Department of Commerce (which administers the program) has the authority to recover those funds, ensuring the state’s investment is protected.

What Happens Next?

The implementation of HB 2595 will follow a specific administrative path to ensure the funds are reaching the right areas:

  1. Creation of the Rural Attorney Program Fund: A dedicated fund is established in the state treasury to house the stipends and loan repayment monies.
  1. Advisory Committee Oversight: An advisory committee, including representatives from the Kansas Bar Association, the Kansas Supreme Court, and the state’s two law schools, will oversee the application process.
  1. Definition of “Rural”: Procedurally, the committee will prioritize counties based on population density and the current ratio of attorneys to residents.
  1. Contractual Commitment: Lawyers entering the program must sign a written agreement. If they leave the rural area before their commitment is up, the legislation includes “clawback” provisions requiring them to repay a portion of the benefits.

Effective Date

The Act is effective July 1, 2026. On that date the “Rural Attorney Program Fund” officially opens in the state treasury. Administrative policies for applications will need to be put in place.  Thus, the Kansas Department of Commerce and the Advisory Committee have a brief window to finalize the administrative framework before the first round of stipends and loan repayments can be processed.

Conclusion

From a technical standpoint, the Act is a critical “infrastructure” win for Kansas producers. Stable agricultural operations depend on local counsel who possess more than just a general law degree.  Agricultural law and agricultural taxation are often “law by the exception.”  While the bill does nothing to enhance that specialized training (the “front end” of the problem) it does help the “back end” of the matter.  By lowering the barrier to entry for young attorneys in rural communities, the state has taken the first step in protecting the legal and financial interests of its biggest and most vital industry – the big business of agriculture. Hopefully, the second step focusing on the front-end problem will occur in the next legislative session.

Photo of Roger McEowen Roger McEowen

Roger A. McEowen is the Professor of Agricultural Law and Taxation at Washburn University School of Law in Topeka, Kansas.

Through 2015, he was the Leonard Dolezal Professor in Agricultural Law at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, where he was also the…

Roger A. McEowen is the Professor of Agricultural Law and Taxation at Washburn University School of Law in Topeka, Kansas.

Through 2015, he was the Leonard Dolezal Professor in Agricultural Law at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, where he was also the Director of the ISU Center for Agricultural Law and Taxation (CALT), which he founded.  Under his leadership, CALT utilized no taxpayer funds in its operations and fully funded staff salaries and benefits, as well as office rent, equipment and supplies, and travel costs from funds generated by seminars and other education-related events and materials.  At ISU he also introduced an agricultural law course into the undergraduate curriculum initially as an experimental course, ultimately building the course from the ground-up to almost 100 students in attendance by the spring semester of 2015.  He was also the highest rated speaker at the annual fall CALT tax schools every year through 2015.  Before joining Iowa State in 2004, he was an associate professor of agricultural law and extension specialist in agricultural law and policy at Kansas State. From 1991-1993, McEowen was in the full-time practice of law with Kelley, Scritsmier and Byrne in North Platte, Nebraska.

McEowen also teaches an undergraduate course in agricultural law at Kansas State University, and has been a visiting professor of law at the University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville, Arkansas, teaching in both the J.D. and L.L.M. programs. He has also previously taught at Washburn Law School and the Drake University School of Law Summer Institute in Agricultural Law.

He has published scholarly articles in the Journal of Agricultural Taxation and Law, Indiana Law Review, Drake Journal of Agricultural Law, North Dakota Law Review, Nebraska Law Review, Monthly Digest of Tax Articles, Tax Notes, West’s Social Security Reporting System, Toledo Law Review, Washburn Law Journal, Creighton Law Review, Agricultural Law Update, and the Agricultural Law Digest. He is the author of Principles of Agricultural Law, an 850-page textbook/casebook that is updated twice annually, and a second 300-page book on agricultural law. His Agricultural Law and Taxation Blog, part of the Law Professor Blogs Network, contains approximately 130 detailed and fully annotated articles annually and is the most widely read agriclultural law and taxation blog online.  In mid-2017, Prof. McEowen’s new book, Agricultural Law in a Nutshell, was published by West Academic Publishing Co.  McEowen also authors the monthly publication, “Kansas Farm and Estate Law.” In addition, he co-authors Bureau of National Affairs (BNA) Tax Management Portfolios on the federal estate tax family-owned business deduction and the reporting of farm income, and is the lead author of a BNA portfolio concerning the income taxation of cooperatives.  He is also the Editor of the Iowa Bar Tax Manual, and Estate Planning for Farmers and Ranchers and Family Business Organizations, both Thomson/West publications.

Prof. McEowen conducts approximately 80-100 seminars annually across the United States for farmers, agricultural business professionals, lawyers, and other tax professionals. He also conducts two radio programs each airing twice monthly heard across the Midwest and on the worldwide web.  In addition,his two-minute radio program, “The Agricultural Law and Tax Report,” is heard each weekday by over 2 million listeners on farm radio stations from NY to CA as well as SiriusXM 147. He also can be seen as a weekly guest on RFD-TV where he discusses various agricultural law and tax topics with the RFD-TV hosts.

In 2003, McEowen was named the recipient of the American Agricultural Law Association (AALA) Distinguished Service Award, becoming the youngest recipient in AALA history.  He is also the recipient of the AALA’s award of excellence for professional scholarship. In 2006, McEowen was named the President-Elect of the AALA.

He received a B.S. with distinction from Purdue University in Management in 1986, an M.S. in Agricultural Economics from Iowa State University in 1990, and a J.D. from the Drake University School of Law in 1991.

He is a member of the Iowa and Kansas Bar Associations and is admitted to practice in Nebraska. He is also a past member of the AALA Board of Directors.

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