Lawyers for NYC's poor children and families are suing for a pay bump, the first since 2004.There are no automatic raises, and the last one was also because of a lawsuit.
Attorneys assigned to represent indigent clients receive hourly rates as low as $60, about one-sixth of what a typical New York lawyer charges, according to a new lawsuit brought by seven lawyers' associations against the city and state of New York. Attorneys are also capped at $2,400 in total fees for misdemeanor cases and $4,400 for felony cases, where there is a risk of years of jail time, no matter how many hours they work, according to the suit.
Like many states, New York uses a patchwork of government lawyers, nonprofits, and attorneys in private practice — so-called"18B" lawyers — to help poor people. While the 18B lawyers who are the subject of Monday's lawsuit do a minority of the indigent-defense work in New York City, they play an important role, especially in cases with multiple defendants where a public defense service like the Legal Aid Society is conflicted out of representing everyone.
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