A coalition of 10 bar associations on Wednesday asked a Manhattan Supreme Court justice to immediately order the first pay raise for New York City’s assigned counsel in nearly two decades, arguing that the state and city are currently violating the constitutional rights of children and indigent adults to effective legal representation.

Attorneys from Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel, who are representing the plaintiffs, argued that the existing rates of $60 per hour for attorneys representing adults in misdemeanor cases and $75 per hour in other cases should be raised to $158 per hour, which would match the rate for assigned counsel in comparable federal court proceedings.