ALL SIDES agreed yesterday that the appeal and statutory stay of an order Friday raising assigned counsel rates to $90 an hour does not block individual judges from exercising their discretion to approve rates in “extraordinary circumstances” above those allowed by statute.
On Friday, Justice Lucindo Suarez ruled that state’s assigned counsel rates under Article 18-B of the County Law imperil the constitutional right of criminal defendants and parents accused of child abuse to effective assistance of counsel. The Bronx judge’s order was stayed automatically by state statute Tuesday after the city and state declared that they would appeal.
