The Legal Aid Society, New York City’s largest provider of indigent criminal defense services, said relatively low salaries are to blame for difficulties in retaining talent and is calling for more funding from the city government to increase public defenders’ paychecks.
Legal Aid’s starting salary for entry-level attorneys who have passed the bar is just over $62,700, which is comparable to first-year pay at some of the city’s district attorneys’ offices but lagging behind the office of the Corporation Counsel, which is paying $68,494 to attorneys who graduated this year.
