Queens legal groups join forces in fight for assigned counsel pay
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More than half a dozen legal groups from across the city have teamed up to fight for better compensation for assigned counsel lawyers. Eagle file photo by Andy Katz
By Rachel Vick
Fighting the existing cap on compensation for private lawyers after going 17 years without a pay raise, the Assigned Counsel Association of New York State filed a complaint against the state, city and the Department of Finance at the end of July.
The Queens County Bar Association, the Latino Lawyers Association of Queens County and the Macon B. Allen Black Bar Association joined their fellow New York City legal associations — the New York County Lawyers Association, the Richmond County Bar Association, the Bronx Bar Association — to fight for better compensation.
“It is extremely unusual, perhaps unprecedented, for all of these bar associations to join
together to file a complaint,” said Michael Dell, lead for the representation team from Kramer Levin.
“But they have united with the Assigned Counsel Association, NYS, Inc., to do so because the State and the City have not followed the Court's admonition in the previous court order for recurrent visitation of the compensation rate,” he added. “The lives and liberties of the children and indigent adults who can’t afford legal representation are being severely impacted.”
The lawsuit was filed to call for “relief to prevent the continuing violation of the constitutional right of children and indigent adults to meaningful and effective legal representation” for the private lawyers assigned to indigent persons under section 18B of County law.
The group is asking for new rates, removal of the current limits on compensation for private counsel who participate in the assigned counsel program and for the establishment of a mechanism to review and update assigned counsel compensation rates on a regular basis.
Assigned Counsel Association of NYS President Sarah Tirgary said that the QCBA was the first to fully support their efforts, commending the Bar for their early influence in garnering additional plaintiffs.
In a 2003 suit filed by NYCLA, the court found that the failure to increase assigned counsel compensation for the prior 17 years created a risk that children and indigent adults were receiving inadequate legal representation in violation of their constitutional rights.
The court ordered an increase, which was approved and amended in 2004 by the legislature after it was ruled that failure to provide adequate compensation to assigned counsel created a “grim reality.”
Currently, private counsel assigned to represent indigent adults in family court matters, appeals, or felony cases, and children are limited to $75 per hour, and that counsel for indigent adults facing criminal misdemeanor charges not more than $60. There is a $4,400 cap on felony cases and a $2,400 cap on misdemeanor cases.
Earlier this year, Chief Judge Janet DiFiore called on officials to once again increase the acceptable rates with the pandemic backlog contributing to existing delays as fewer lawyers participated in the programs.
“Without appropriate compensation ensuring an adequate pool of well-qualified assigned counsel, the overall quality of our indigent representation system is diminishing,” she said in March.
According to the suit, assigned counsel caps in federal court have been increased 14 times in the same period to $155 per hour.
“These attorneys are integral to our system of justice. We agree with the Chief Judge, who urged the governor to address the issue,” Law Department spokesman Nick Paolucci told the Eagle. “The City will continue looking for ways to fairly compensate these attorneys.”
