Pay Dispute Heats Up As Judge Seeks Names of Striking Lawyers

July 27, 2005
Boston Herald
By Maggie Mulvihill

Superior Court judge and former prosecutor Jeffrey A. Locke wants a list by today of all Suffolk lawyers refusing to take indigent cases, raising fears among attorneys he will order them to represent poor clients despite their pay dispute.

Locke's order comes as Supreme Judicial Court Associate Justice John M. Greaney yesterday pressed the Legislature to this week resolve a pay dispute with private lawyers who take court-appointed cases before the number of poor defendants without counsel increases. There are already more than 600 in just two counties.

The attorneys, known as bar advocates, have refused to take new cases without a pay hike.

Since July 1, the start of the new fiscal year, judges across the state have been unable to find lawyers to represent accused criminals too poor to pay.

Judges in Middlesex and Suffolk counties, where Locke sits, have been particularly hard-hit. They have been unable to appoint lawyers for nearly 600 accused criminals to date. The SJC is trying to avoid the drastic action of freeing accused criminals who remain jailed without legal representation.

The House and Senate have approved differing versions of a bill that would increase the pay rates to between $60 and $100 per hour, and the Senate is expected to take up the issue again in an informal session tomorrow. Lawyers who represent the poor said an attempt by any judge to force a private lawyer to take a case at the current pay rates would be a mistake.

``It is just going to make things much worse,'' said Randy Gioia, co-chairman of Suffolk Lawyers for Justice Inc. ``The judiciary should be standing side by side with the lawyers in trying to make sure that the (U.S.) Constitution is applied to poor people just as well as it is applied to people with money.''

William Leahy, head of the state's public defenders office agreed: ``Conscription is not the answer because you'll have unwilling lawyers.''

Meanwhile, Greaney said, ``The Legislature understands it's a very important issue.'' But he added he hopes lawmakers won't``leave us in the middle of a big mess for the rest of the summer.''


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