Indiana’s legal opportunities are expanding through online law-school access and new recruiting programs, even as many communities struggle to find counsel. Stefan May, a Purdue Global Law School graduate, joined Robbins and Seville in Crown Point this summer after Indiana changed its bar-exam rules for online graduates. Northwest Indiana Business reported on the growing legal opportunities behind the shift.
“It’s the right time to do it, because there is a lawyer shortage,” May said. Indiana has 2.3 attorneys per 1,000 residents, placing it among the bottom 10 states nationally, according to the American Bar Association. More than half of the state’s counties qualify as legal deserts.
The Indiana Supreme Court approved an amendment in 2024 allowing online law-school graduates to take the bar exam if they submit a waiver. The change opened a route for May and other graduates as firms seek lawyers.
Legal opportunities reach underserved counties
Newton, Jasper, Starke and Pulaski counties are among 49 rural Indiana counties with fewer than one lawyer per 1,000 residents. Shelice Tolbert, a partner at Tolbert & Tolbert in Gary, said some residents also leave their communities to find lawyers because local attorneys do not cover every practice area.
Northwest Indiana has lost roughly 200 names from its official count of active practitioners across Lake, Porter, La Porte, St. Joseph and Elkhart counties since 2020. Valparaiso University’s law school, which closed in 2020, had accounted for 20% of Indiana law-school graduates.
Joshua Hague, a partner at Krieg DeVault, said the closure affected recruiting for the firm’s Crown Point office, which opened in 2025. “Now, we fish for talent a little farther out in the pond,” he said. Tolbert said her firm looks to bar associations, local university prelaw programs and law schools in the Chicago area to find candidates with Northwest Indiana ties.
May said attending a law school near South Bend would have made it difficult to keep his job and raise a family. “Purdue Global’s online platform was about the only option,” he said.
Of 16 Indiana-based Purdue Global Law School graduates last year, 11, including May, passed the bar. More than 140 Indiana students now study law online at Purdue Global, a 900% increase. Martin Pritikin, the school’s dean, said its students include people from underserved areas and that about one in eight comes from Northwest Indiana.
Firms build new legal opportunities
Employers are also developing talent earlier. Timothy Emerick, managing partner of Barnes & Thornburg’s South Bend office, said the firm welcomed its largest-ever associate attorney class last fall, including 11 in its Indiana offices. Its summer associate program recruits across the Region, while an undergraduate internship introduces students to the business side of law.
Some firms use allied legal professionals for client intake and case management, with lawyers reviewing their work. Emerick described the model as an efficiency measure, not a response to a shortage at his firm.
William Henderson, an Indiana University Bloomington law professor, has proposed nonprofit law firms using technology and allied professionals for high-volume basic legal work. He said rural practices can be overwhelmed and turn away cases involving family law, debt collection and consumer bankruptcy.
The state has discussed incentives for rural practice, but funding remains unresolved. Kathryn Dolan of the Indiana Office of Judicial Administration said officials have not released money for scholarships or other incentives. Joe Skeel, executive director of the Indiana State Bar Association, said legislation supports scholarships for students who agree to serve as rural prosecutors or public defenders, but “there is no money backing that up.”
Skeel said the association started a Rural Practice Academy this summer to teach attorneys how to start solo or small firms. About 15 attorneys are participating. These efforts aim to connect more residents with legal help.
The staffing challenge also intersects with courts’ workload, technology used in legal services and training. Law News Day has examined criminal-law questions before the Supreme Court, technology in legal services and legal training.
