I am a lawyer who does a lot of court-appointed work and it is a substantial part of my law practice. I see there may be cuts in federal court-appointed payments and/or delays because of budgetary issues based on what is known as the sequester statute. I have also seen at least one capital case where the courts have cut back on the fees, presumably because of the limited fee for capital cases the Supreme Court has allowed in Philadelphia. What is my professional obligation to the clients I represent and/or to future clients?
As has often been said in these articles, the legacy of Gideon has long been minimized in Pennsylvania. Over the last 30 years, dedicated public defenders and extremely dedicated court-appointed counsel have handled the responsibility of the entire bar at great personal cost with almost no realistic reimbursement.
