Much has changed in the New York legal community since 2003, but at least one aspect has remained constant: pay rates for assigned counsel, known as 18-B attorneys, has stubbornly remained fixed at $75 an hour.

And while the pay rate for 18-B hasn’t budged, living expenses have gone up and caseloads have mounted, said Sarah Tirgary, a Queens-based family law attorney who serves as president of the Assigned Counsel Association of the Queens Family Court, and 18-B attorneys.