New York court finds failure to raise rates of assigned counsel violates state constitution Susan J. Walsh

NACDL joined defender organizations in supporting increasing compensation for court-appointed counsel.

In 2023 the ABA adopted a revised version of the Ten Principles of a Public Defense Delivery System. These replaced the version initially adopted in 2002. 

2022CV001027 (Brown County Cir.)

In response to the ongoing crisis in Wisconsin where thousands of people facing criminal charges are waiting for lawyers to be assigned to their cases, NACDL, our Wisconsin affiliate (WACDL), the Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law at NYU School of Law, and the Chicago office of Winston & Strawn filed a lawsuit. The lawsuit was filed in Brown County (Green Bay), one of the many counties in the state struggling to find lawyers for every eligible individual, leaving people waiting weeks, months, and in some instances, a year or more, for a lawyer.

A report by the Sixth Amendment Center, commissioned by NACDL and supported by the NACDL Foundation for Criminal Justice and Koch Industries. [Released October 2016]

The crisis in public defense in Louisiana has been well-documented by the news media over the past several years. Stories of overloaded public defenders, unrepresented individuals languishing in jail, and mass pleas have shocked the nation’s conscience, but the system’s shortcomings have long evaded reform. However, much coverage of the public defense crisis in Louisiana, the state with the highest incarceration rate in the nation, has focused its attention on the consequences of the crisis rather than its causes. [Released March 2017]

This 50-State Survey of Financial Eligibility Guidelines for Assigned Counsel documents how states decide who is “too poor” to hire a lawyer. The survey looks at how states define “indigency” and whether or not that definition is consistent with ABA standards for providing defense services. It identifies which states rely on the Federal Poverty Guidelines when determining eligibility for assigned counsel, and explains the origin of the Federal Poverty Guidelines and how they cannot accurately predict who is “too poor” to hire a lawyer. [Released March 2014]

For more than a year, NACDL has examined Maine’s public defense system, providing technical assistance to MCILS under a grant from the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance. ... As the nation’s preeminent criminal defense bar, NACDL is keenly interested in ensuring public defense providers have caseloads that are reasonable and allow them to fulfill their legal, ethical, and constitutional obligations.

The private bar plays a vital role in a healthy public defense delivery system. In large cities, private attorneys fill a critical gap, handling cases in which institutional defenders have conflicts and work overload; in small towns the private bar may be the only public defense provider, managing court-appointments in addition to their practices; and in all instances, the private bar brings a crucial perspective and expertise to the public defense system and the clients they represent. Yet in far too many places these lawyers are asked to labor without adequate compensation.

NACDL supports the passage of legislation to increase the assigned counsel rate in New York.

In 2018 NACDL filed a public comment in support of a Petition before the Wisconsin Supreme Court to raise the rate of compensation for court appointed counsel, and declaring its current $40 per hour rate as unreasonable. The Court refused to hold the state's rate unreasonable, but did elect to raise its own court assigned case rate from $70/hour to $100/hr.

NACDL President Lisa Wayne's comments to the Department of Justice Office of Legal Policy regarding a proposed rule that would allow states to limit federal review of capital post-conviction cases.

Member Loren Weiss's testimony to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts regarding sufficient funding and availability of federal defender offices and CJA attorneys, pursuant to proposals outlined in the Federal Courts Improvement Act of 1995 (S. 1101).

NACDL President Lawrence Goldman's letter to House Judiciary Committee chair Representative Jim Sensenbrenner regarding the Innocence Protection Act of 2001 (H.R. 912).

Member Richard Kammen's written statement to the House Appropriations Committee regarding adequate funding and training for defender services to ensure adequate representation for those who cannot afford it.