Rural law practice areas include:

  • Civil Litigation
  • Civil Rights & Constitutional Law
  • Criminal Law
  • Education Law including Special Ed, 504 plans, Discrimination & Bullying
  • Family Law: Adoption, Child Custody, Divorce, Domestic Violence, Juvenile
  • Immigration Matters
  • Municipal Court Matters
  • Probate, Trusts, & Wills
  • Real Estate Law

What is rural law?

Rural law is the community-based, diverse area of law practiced by country lawyers. Some consider the country lawyer to be an endangered species, but here at The People’s Law Clinic, we know differently. There is a long, noble and poetic tradition of the country lawyer in this country, that is undergoing a revival as more and more seasoned city lawyers are moving to rural areas, lured by the opportunity to make a real difference in people’s lives while enjoying the quality of life rural living affords.

Country lawyers are the unsung heroes of the legal profession, the advocate and protector of common people. Practicing rural law is a noble and worthy pursuit, a pillar upon which this great nation was built.

Abraham Lincoln is perhaps the best known country lawyer, but not the first and certainly not the last. He rode the circuit, bringing legal services to the poor and downtrodden throughout the 8th District which he served. Lincoln loved the life of the circuit — the excitement of court week in the small country towns, the camaraderie of judge and lawyers, the speechmaking and sociability in the evenings, and the esteem in which the country folk held the members of the bar. A rural practice affords lawyers with the opportunity to really get to know their clients and make a significant impact in their community. Rural folk understand the importance of family, of neighbors, of protecting the land and the people who work it. These are values we at The People’s Law Clinic hold dear.

The People’s Law Clinic & Mediation Center was established with these ideas in mind — serving the community by providing high quality, affordable legal services with a neighborly touch. Situated in Viroqua, Wisconsin, the heartland of the Driftless region, we provide a down-to-earth approach to the law, specifically designed to meet the needs of hard-working people in this beautiful rural community.

The Country Lawyer:

“Now the true test of the country lawyer is not the size or importance of the community in which he does his work, but rather the sort of work which he does and the sort of people for whom he does it. If a lawyer performs every sort of legal service for every sort of client – the poor and the lowly as well as the rich and the well born – he is, within my definition at least, a country lawyer, and no arbitrary distinction based on density of population or the like can make him anything else.”
              —From Francis Lyman Windolph in his 1938 book, The Country Lawyer

“He 'read law' in the Commentaries of Blackstone and Kent and not by the case system. He resolved problems by what he called "first principles." He did not specialize, nor did he pick and choose clients. He rarely declined service to worthy ones because of inability to pay. [...] He never quit. He could think of motions for every purpose under the sun, and he made them all. [...] The law to him was like a religion, and its practice was more than a means of support; it was a mission. He was not always popular in his community, but he was respected. [...] He "lived well, worked hard, and died poor." Often his name was in a generation or two forgotten. It was from this brotherhood that America has drawn its statesmen and its judges.”
              —From Robert H. Jackson’s 1950 essay, The County-Seat Lawyer