{"id":12233,"date":"2010-11-22T08:05:34","date_gmt":"2010-11-22T13:05:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/?p=12233"},"modified":"2010-11-22T08:05:34","modified_gmt":"2010-11-22T13:05:34","slug":"indigent-defense-and-the-private-bar-rate-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/2010\/11\/indigent-defense-and-the-private-bar-rate-debate\/","title":{"rendered":"Indigent Defense and the Private Bar Rate Debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

\ufeff\"\"<\/a>The Wisconsin State Public Defender (SPD) currently pays $40 per hour to private bar attorneys who represent indigent citizens accused of crimes.\u00a0 This rate has been unchanged for decades, and lawyers are lobbying for an increase.\u00a0 However, aside from horrible timing\u2014this latest plea for more money coincides with Wisconsin\u2019s $2.5 billion<\/em> budget deficit\u2014some of the arguments in support of the rate increase aren\u2019t terribly persuasive, and should be abandoned. \u00a0But more significantly, the fact that lawyers have to make these arguments in the first place is merely a symptom of a larger problem: We live in a culture that misunderstands and undervalues our Constitutional rights.<\/p>\n

But first, let\u2019s review and grade a few of the more popular arguments:<\/p>\n

Argument # 1<\/strong>: \u201cAuto mechanics and plumbers earn much more than the $40 per hour that we lawyers are paid.\u201d Grade: C.<\/strong> This statement is true, and has a certain amount of shock value, but it is unlikely to persuade anyone who doesn\u2019t have a law degree.\u00a0 The problem for lawyers is that mechanics and plumbers find themselves in a much more favorable position in the supply and demand analysis.\u00a0 Conversely, in most parts of Wisconsin there is a seemingly inexhaustible supply of lawyers willing to work for the $40 per hour.<\/p>\n

Argument # 2<\/strong>: \u201cOther court-appointed lawyers in Wisconsin earn $70 per hour, and our circuit court judges earn, on average, $128,000 per year.\u201d Grade: B+. <\/strong>From an economic standpoint, this argument is better because we\u2019re now comparing apples to apples (or lawyers to lawyers).\u00a0 And these other lawyers and judges get the benefit of a legislated, rather than a market-driven, pay rate, so why shouldn\u2019t defense lawyers get the same?\u00a0 But the counter-argument is that the focus should be on the defendants, not the defense lawyers, and the defendants are already receiving competent representation.<\/p>\n

Argument #3<\/strong>: \u201cI am losing money on my $40 per hour SPD appointments because my office overhead rate is $50 per hour.\u201d Grade: D.<\/strong> This argument ignores the difference between fixed and variable overhead.\u00a0 In other words, your office rent, Lexis subscription, and advertising costs stay the same whether you take an SPD appointment or not, and the additional SPD income actually helps pay for your existing, fixed overhead.\u00a0 So, it\u2019s not possible to lose money on an SPD case.<\/p>\n

Argument #4<\/strong>: \u201cThe $40 per hour rate results in ineffective assistance of counsel.\u201d\u00a0 Grade: B\u2013.<\/strong> A colleague of mine hates this argument because, essentially, attorneys are saying \u201cWe\u2019re ineffective, now give us more money.\u201d\u00a0 But, there might be some evidence to support this argument.\u00a0 For example, if SPD appointed<\/em> attorneys from the private bar are found to be \u201cineffective\u201d significantly more often than their SPD counterparts, then there might be something to it.\u00a0 But the bigger problem could be that, in some Wisconsin counties, private bar attorneys agree to represent a fixed number of indigent defendants for a flat fee.\u00a0 Depending on how many of those defendants want to go to trial, this could result in a forced hourly rate of $30, $20, or even less.\u00a0 On its face, this type of pay structure, unlike the hourly rate structure, seems to create an incentive to settle cases short of trial, which is potentially at odds with client interests.<\/p>\n

But the fact that attorneys have to make these arguments in the first place highlights the underlying problem: We live in a culture that, to put it mildly, doesn\u2019t value lawyers.\u00a0 Our citizens generally have a high opinion of doctors, farmers, teachers, firefighters, and police, but not lawyers\u2014and, more to the point, certainly not criminal defense lawyers.<\/p>\n

One of the reasons for this is that these other professionals have created a positive public image for themselves and their services, and they often start their campaigns very early in our formative years.\u00a0 (Remember meeting \u201cDeputy Friendly\u201d in grade school?)\u00a0 Conversely, the Constitutional rights that criminal defense lawyers protect are grossly misunderstood, and are commonly dismissed as mere loopholes that protect the guilty.\u00a0 Until this misconception is changed through early <\/em>and rigorous<\/em> education about the significance of our fundamental rights\u2014and about the danger to each of us if those rights aren\u2019t protected for all of us\u2014the well-deserved rate increase may continue to elude the private bar.<\/p>\n

Michael D. Cicchini<\/strong> is a criminal defense lawyer and author of But They Didn\u2019t Read Me My Rights! Myths, Oddities, and Lies about Our Legal System<\/em> (Prometheus Books, 2010) and numerous articles on criminal and constitutional law, available here<\/span>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\ufeffThe Wisconsin State Public Defender (SPD) currently pays $40 per hour to private bar attorneys who represent indigent citizens accused of crimes.\u00a0 This rate has been unchanged for decades, and lawyers are lobbying for an increase.\u00a0 However, aside from horrible timing\u2014this latest plea for more money coincides with Wisconsin\u2019s $2.5 billion budget deficit\u2014some of the 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