Court-appointed lawyers seek pay hike from state

BOSTON – Court-appointed lawyers, also known as bar advocates, want the state to raise their pay rates.Massachusetts Bar Association (MBA) General Counsel Martin W. Healey testified at the State House last week before the Joint Committee on the Judiciary, seeking support of legislative bills that would increase the hourly rate for private attorneys representing poor clients.If passed into law, Senate bills No. 868 and No. 999 would bring Massachusetts bar advocate compensation rates closer to those in other states, Healey said.The bills would set the new hourly rates anywhere from $55 to $110 an hour, depending on the case and court.”The Massachusetts and United States constitutions mandate that indigent citizens facing criminal charges must be competently represented. When the commonwealth fails to provide compensation to retain experienced defense counsel, citizens charged with crimes are denied the fundamental rights of a fair and speedy trial with effective assistance of counsel,” Healey said.The attorney told legislators that the legal community believes in the meaning of justice as set forth in the Constitution, general laws and case law. “We acknowledge that there is a cost to providing a fair and effective system of justice. That cost includes adequate compensation for those lawyers who participate in our justice system. It is obvious that such compensation is not being paid,” he said.Current pay rates are below the rates recommended more than 10 years ago in a report released by the MBA’s Commission on Criminal Justice Attorney Compensation. That 1994 report studied pay rates for defense of the poor and concluded it was “inadequate and inequitable.”According to Healey, that inadequate compensation makes it difficult to retain lawyers of skill, experience and talent and forces attorneys to leave public service, a concern echoed by the Legislature’s Special Commission to study indigent counsel rates. This has resulted in a shortage of expert attorneys who are able to mentor new attorneys still learning about indigent criminal defense.Should the bills pass, the new hourly rates will change in all four categories of advocates:District Court and children in need of services cases: from $50 to $55.Children and family law, care and protection, sex offender and mental health cases: from $50 to $60.Superior Court non-homicide cases, including sexually dangerous persons: from $60 to $70.Homicide cases: from $100 to $110.