Iowa’s loss is DC’s gain

I’m back in the saddle after taking a hiatus last week so your reporter could attend the graduation of son Justin from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, DC.

It was a very proud moment for me, his mother Mary, sister Bridget and her husband Branden from suburban Chicago, and Justin’s fiancee Piper as we all got together in our nation’s capital for this life-changing event.

Since graduating from college 13 years ago, Justin has been working in DC, and for the last four years has been studying law at night in addition to his full-time day job. He has accepted a position with a major law firm in DC. Another Storm Laker made good.

Unfortunately, while Justin appreciates his hometown of Storm Lake, like so many of our native Iowans we haven’t been able to lure him back home to stay. Rural Iowa is unable to offer the opportunities that our kids can find elsewhere.

When I started out in the newspaper business here in 1972, there were probably twice as many lawyers in Buena Vista County as there are today. Practically every town in the county had an attorney. Now they are clustered in Storm Lake, and in decreasing numbers. Several local law offices have closed in the past five years as lawyers have retired or passed on, and those who remain are mostly in their 60s, 70s and even beyond. That’s not unusual — a third of all Iowa lawyers are over age 65.

After Phil Havens retired as city attorney about a year ago, the City of Storm Lake had to hire a law firm out of Des Moines to replace him.

Storm Lake has a legacy of skilled litigators who have represented their clients with distinction over many decades. But there are fewer today, and it poses a challenge for the future if Storm Lake is to remain an economic force in Northwest Iowa. There may come a time when we have to travel to Sioux City to find legal representation, even for matters as simple yet essential as drawing up a will or having a title opinion rendered when buying a house. And if you get in trouble with the law, you may have to reach all the way to Des Moines to find a defense attorney.

It’s not just a Storm Lake problem. Lawyers are in short supply throughout Iowa and the rural Midwest. Lawyer shortages in states from Maine to Indiana to South Dakota are reaching critical levels. Iowa Lawyer magazine says there are counties in South Dakota and Nebraska where residents are more than 100 miles from an attorney.

Nearby Palo Alta County is one of four in Iowa with two or fewer lawyers.

Lawyers aren’t the only professionals in short supply in Iowa. Storm Lake is also facing fewer family practice doctors, dentists and accountants as these professionals age towards retirement.

We all know why. The number one reason is money. Many young professionals, fresh out of graduate school, are loaded down with debt and see more financial opportunities in bigger cities. And there are more fun things to do — like sports, concerts and entertainment — in Des Moines, Chicago and Washington, DC.

And frankly, our politics also aren't helping attract the best and brightest young minds. Young doctors are reluctant to practice medicine in areas where state legislators are telling them what they can and cannot do, perhaps contrary to what they learned in medical school. Cuts in Medicare and Medicaid are leading to the closure of rural clinics and hospitals. And why would you want to live in a place where it’s once again against the law to teach evolution?

We need to worry less about scaring people over DEI and more about how to keep our best and brightest young minds like Justin back home where they can help Iowa grow in the 21st century and beyond.