The latest work motion by bar advocates may have an effect on circumstances at East Boston District Court docket
(Might 26, 2025, Boston, MA) – Public defender bar advocates will mark the primary day of refusing to just accept new court-appointed work till they obtain an hourly wage comparable with different states with a rally on the Massachusetts State Home on Tuesday, Might 27, 2025 at 1:00 p.m.
“Massachusetts is on the backside of the nation for pay however on the prime for price of dwelling,” mentioned Jen O’Brien, a Middlesex County public defender bar advocate who will converse on the rally. “We aren’t asking to be paid the identical as attorneys on Wall Avenue in big regulation companies. We’re merely asking to be paid pretty. Paid a charge that’s on par with different northeastern states like Maine, New Hampshire, New York, and Rhode Island.”
Whereas Massachusetts pays $65 per hour for District Court docket and $85 for Superior Court docket Counsel, Maine pays $158, New Hampshire pays $125-150, New York pays $158, and Rhode Island pays $112-142.
O’Brien additionally factors out, “There are fewer and fewer new expert attorneys who can afford to or who’re prepared to do bar advocate work, and that’s 80% of all public defender work. If bar advocates had been given even a modest price of dwelling improve on par with the rise in inflation over the past 20 years, this disaster would by no means have occurred.”
Along with the indigent accused, public defender bar advocates additionally characterize victims and witnesses in circumstances the place they might have a Fifth Modification proper to not testify and folks with alcohol and substance use issues in want of rapid medical intervention, and sometimes present social work companies by connecting shoppers to accessible sources.
“Many public defender bar advocates have already left as a result of they couldn’t afford to do the work they love,” mentioned Governor’s Councillor Mara Dolan, a public defender bar advocate. “However ask any public defender bar advocate why they do it, and so they’ll let you know it’s as a result of they know the way essential the work is. While you defend the accused, you defend anybody who may be wrongfully accused, and that’s everybody.”
