A group of attorneys who represent indigent clients are refusing to accept new court-appointed cases until they receive a higher hourly wage. These attorneys — many of whom practice private defense law as their day jobs — make themselves available at local courts to take cases for people who can’t afford a lawyer but face criminal charges.
The so-called public defender bar advocates say the public defense system provides them very low compensation in comparison to their colleagues in nearby states.
“These bar advocates work tirelessly in the courts every day. They could easily get jobs elsewhere earning four times what they earn as bar advocates,” said Jen O’Brien, a bar advocate in Middlesex County at the Tuesday rally outside the State House. “Instead, they choose to dedicate their time, their careers and their lives to public service to help individuals on what is often the worst day of their lives.”
These contracted attorneys represent about 80% of the criminal defendants who cannot afford an attorney; the state’s public defender agency, the Committee for Public Counsel Services, represents the other 20%.
O’Brien said the work bar advocates do upholds tenets of the Constitution, which can “protect people from malicious prosecutions, from unfounded accusations, and from overreaching state action.”
The bar advocates are demanding a raise from the state Legislature. Thet say they’re only paid $65 an hour for billable hours in District Court, where most of the roughly 2,600 public defenders represent clients. In Superior Court, which has fewer public defenders, it’s $85 per hour.
Lawyers don’t get to bill every hour they work on a case: there’s often several more hours of administrative work and non-billable time, and that hourly rate is before taxes and monthly expenses, like office rent, case management software, malpractice insurance, and health insurance.
The bar advocates said that subtracting those expenses, four weeks of paying themselves for vacation, holiday and illness, and only billing for 30 hours a week, the pay before taxes is $42,000 a year.
Several small hourly increases have been passed over the years, but attorneys say the rates now are substantially behind neighborhing states. Several attorneys told GBH News they would resume taking cases when they were offered a comparable rate. The base hourly rate in Rhode Island, for instance, is $112, $150 in Maine and $158 in New York.
Defendants have a constitutional right to due process, and public funds are used to pay the counsel that is appointed to their case.
“Not only have we not had any sort of significant raise, cost of living or otherwise, but because we’re earning so much less than our neighboring states, there’s actually a huge mass exodus of attorneys to other states,” said Elyse Hershon, a bar advocate in Suffolk and Middlesex counties.
She said they’re not looking for the rates of corporate attorneys that can run over $300 per hour.
“We’re looking for a fair market rate,” she said.
She said attorneys are stretched too thin as it is: there are often no attorneys for certain courts, sometimes for up to a week, according to Hershon.
“Dorchester, Roxbury, have no attorney some days. And they have double digit custodies coming in that need representation — and there’s not enough people to represent them,” she said.
The state’s public defender agency, the Committee for Public Counsel Services, put out a statement of support for their contracted colleagues. They also noted this could have impact on clients, but they’re “actively working” to maintain coverage statewide and “minimize harm to those most in need of legal assistance.”
“Their work in District and Superior Courts, in mental health facilities, on behalf of children and families, and in other settings where the right to counsel attaches is vital to a just legal system,” said CPCS Chief Counsel Anthony Benedetti. “They are indispensable to fulfilling the constitutional guarantee of counsel.”
