Lawyers for the Poor Cite Low Pay in Threat to Refuse New Cases
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Lawyers who are appointed to represent indigent people in New York City family court are threatening to refuse additional cases in Manhattan and Brooklyn unless their hourly salaries are increased. The lawyers claim that their salaries have not been increased since 1986 and are among the lowest in the nation. Gary Schultz, a spokesman for the group representing the lawyers in Brooklyn and Manhattan, says, "The system is bleeding to death." Judge Joseph M. Lauria, the administrative judge of New York City’s family courts, who supports the lawyers, notes that while each courthouse receives 30 cases that require assigned counsel daily, only a small number of these cases are handled by private firms and the Legal Aid Society. He says, "[The panel lawyers] feel overwhelmed to the point where their integrity may be questioned." Association of the Bar of the City of New York President Evan Davis notes that while private lawyers in New York earn as much as $500 an hour, "[H]ere we are, paying assigned counsel $25 and $40 an hour." He adds, "The visitor from Mars would say the right to counsel has become a cruel joke. It’s illusory when you pay those rates." Laura Mansnerus, Lawyers for the Poor Cite Low Pay in Threat to Refuse New Cases, The N.Y. Times, Dec. 9, 2000, at B3.