Limited Assigned Counsel Rate Ruling by Wisconsin Supreme Court Ensures Wisconsin’s Public Defense System to Remain in Crisis 'Indefinitely’ – Washington, DC (June 28, 2018) – Yesterday, the Wisconsin Supreme Court issued its formal order in the matter of the petition filed by the Wisconsin Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (WACDL), the Wisconsin Association of Justice, and others seeking to "chang[e] the hourly rate of compensation for court-appointed lawyers to $100/hour...

Nation’s Criminal Defense Bar Weighs In on Nation’s Lowest Assigned Counsel Rate; NACDL Executive Director Norman L. Reimer Argues for Significant Increase before Wisconsin Supreme Court – Washington, D.C. (May 16, 2018) – As revealed in a March 2013 report from the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) – Gideon at 50, Part I – Rationing Justice: The Underfunding of Assigned Counsel Systems – Wisconsin has long had the lowest statutory assigned counsel rate in the nation at $40 per hour.