Otsego’s Battle Against Rural Legal Deserts Continues

By BILL BELLEN
OTSEGO COUNTY

It’s a sunny July afternoon on Otsego Lake as attorneys and friends gather from across the county and state in celebration. Staff at the Hawkeye Bar and Grill are busy as the crowd is seated around two now-very-full tables overlooking the yard and the lapping water beyond. Banter fills the air as longtime acquaintances reminisce while new faces receive advice on local real estate. It is among these new faces where Presiding Justice Elizabeth Garry—who oversees the New York State Appellate Court Third Judicial Department—seats herself. As she begins her discussions with those gathered, she looks out across the lake, simply saying, “Why would you not want to live here?”

This very question lies at the heart of the New York State Unified Court System’s Rural Pathways program. Pathways is a legal internship aimed at law students during the summer between their second and third year of school. In a similar vein to the packaged experiential tours offered by private practices in larger cities, aimed at enticing young recruits to their offices, Pathways pulls soon-to-be lawyers out of the urban environments many are used to and places them into a variety of settings in rural New York. Each county offers differing experiences, and both local government and private law offices partner with the Unified Court System to offer the interns real-world experience.

Bob Birch, real estate attorney at Schlather & Birch in Cooperstown, spoke to just how important it was for law students to be exposed to rural practice through Pathways.

“For those of us who grew up here, this is not a big deal,” Birch said in reference to the sprawling landscapes and tight-knit communities that define Upstate New York. “But for these kids, it’s like going to the wild, wild, west.”

Pathways first launched in the form of a pilot program last year, spawned from a desire among local bar officials and members of the Unified Court System who have become increasingly concerned in recent years regarding the decline of legal services access in rural New York. Spanning Otsego, St. Lawrence and Clinton counties, the 2025 pilot began on June 2 and ran for six weeks, with each of the three counties hosting two interns. Through the joint effort of court coordination, private practice cooperativeness and support on the ground from communities that welcomed the law students with open arms, the program was deemed a resounding success by the Unified Court System.

It was off the back of this success that Pathways rapidly grew for its first fully-fledged programming year. Subsidies from the Unified Court System allowed Pathways to offer a comparatively competitive rate of $30.00 an hour for 35 hours a week over the course of each internship position. Beginning June 1 and running eight weeks through July 24, 22 interns across 20 upstate counties embarked on a summer of real legal practice this year, with a myriad of leisure activities only afforded to those in a rural environment sprinkled in along the way. Among this crowd, three students were selected for placement in Otsego and Delaware counties and spent four weeks of the program in each.

Corey Davis, a student of the University at Buffalo and one of the three interns in the Otsego and Delaware placement, shared what initially piqued his interest regarding the program.

“I am very conservative with my money and disagreed with my wife about attending law school because I had heard about the exorbitant cost of getting a law degree and the fierce competition for jobs,” Davis said. He continued, explaining that Rural Pathways representatives had delivered a presentation at the university attesting to many of the well-paid positions of the legal industry going increasingly unfilled in rural New York. “This information was like music to my anxious ears and I immediately made Rural Pathways my top priority.”

Davis and his fellow interns moved between many different offices, courts and focuses during their eight-week internships. The trio spent one week at the Delaware County Court Attorney’s office, two weeks at the Otsego County District Attorney’s office, and a week in the Delaware County Public Defender’s office, while also observing operations at local branches of state offices and various private practices, including Schlather & Birch.

Sarah Cowen, president of the Otsego County Bar Association and one of the originators of the idea for a rural-focused internship program, expressed her excitement about Pathways’ continued success and her gratitude for the community embracing the program—a reality she anticipated as one of the key enticements of the program.

“The group of interns that we have has been really into everything and excited to do everything,” Cowen said. “They’ve gotten to go to an Outlaw[s] game, out on boats, seeing the lakes and hiking…The community as a whole has done a really great job embracing them and trying to make them a part of the community.”

With a week left in the program, the three interns were invited to a culminating luncheon at The Otesaga Resort Hotel’s Hawkeye Bar and Grill on July 17. As the gathering crowd of local attorneys joined the interns in enjoying the food and conversation, Garry offered some thoughts to the crowd.

“[W]hat’s happening that we’re seeing is there are practices that people can’t pass forward because there’s nobody to take it over. And that’s a tragedy, because you can live here, and have a really great lifestyle and a good life,” Garry remarked.

Garry contrasted this outlook with the optimism brought about by the Pathways program, calling on the interns to spread the word upon their return to school in the fall. This call to arms seemed to invigorate the interns, something that Alex Page—an intern and longtime resident of Otsego County—later spoke to.

“As a local small town Otsego County-raised law student, the program has done everything to confirm that there is no place better for me than Upstate New York,” Page stated. “The program has not only confirmed my ambition to practice in Upstate New York and likely Otsego County, but has inspired me to adopt the cause in revitalizing rural upstate practice.”

Though the summer internship season has wrapped up, work for the organizers of Pathways is only just beginning. With positive participant and intern feedback, the Unified Court System is aiming to make the program bigger and better in the year to come. Strategic partners in the Unified Court System, regional law schools, and local bar associations will play critical roles in expanding outreach, helping the program reach more students, practices, and communities alike.

There is undoubtedly much work to be done, but Presiding Justice Garry, her staff, program partners and plenty of community members are doing all they can to make Rural Pathways an oasis in the legal deserts of rural New York.