THE U.S. Supreme Court in Gideon v. Wainwright in 1964 and Argersinger v. Hamlin in 1972 extended the right of appointed counsel to persons charged with felonies in state courts and in misdemeanor cases in the same courts where a finding of guilt might result in imprisonment of six months or more and where the accused could not afford counsel. There followed in New York state a system of appointed counsel in any one or more of three ways: a public defender system, a panel of assigned counsel from which the court would choose and a contractual arrangement between an individual county, a bar association and a legal aid society to provide legal services in criminal matters.
Where the choice, whether for felony or misdemeanor matters, was that of a panel of attorneys the rates of compensation have remained the same for the past 16 years: $40 per hour in court and $25 per hour out of court. The failure to adjust those rates to a common sense amount has, as all in the legal community know, reached a crisis. The average attorney, wishing to offer his services in these matters, cannot afford to do so at these rates. Just the standard of living of each of us has risen since 1986. More importantly, the costs of running a law practice, solo or otherwise, have risen during the same period of time.
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