5 days ago
I was a bar advocate for 27 years. Here's why I had to quit.
This hourly rate barely covers the necessary expenses of the job: office rent (required by the Commonwealth), legal research subscriptions, administrative help, printing costs, and malpractice insurance. On top of these expenses, I often need to buy clothes for clients to wear at trial and personally pay for transportation costs to drug treatment facilities.
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I write personal checks to fund my clients' constitutional rights, draining my savings so poor defendants can compete against well-funded prosecutors.
Seventeen years ago, I carried $20,000 in IRS debt — money borrowed from my future to fund support for my clients. My husband has since paid that debt so I could continue the calling that was destroying me financially.
I eventually stopped taking District Court cases because I was losing money on each case. Superior Court cases paid more, but the stress was much higher. These weren't simple matters — they were complex felonies involving thousands of pages of discovery, expert witnesses, and lengthy investigations. The higher pay barely covered the massive increase in work needed for a proper defense.
After nearly three decades in the industry, I walked away from my three-year contract in February with Suffolk Lawyers for Justice because the work had become financially impossible. A recent work stoppage by defense attorney has forced the dismissal of numerous criminal cases, undermining public safety and the administration of justice.
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The financial burden is only part of the story. The work itself is gutting and causes a psychological toll. Bar advocates visit prisons several days a week, often meeting with allegedly dangerous and mentally ill clients.
For example, I once sat in a large cell at MCI- Cedar Junction Walpole's Disciplinary Unit interviewing a client chained to the floor, his body so restricted by restraints he could barely move. I remember him struggling to adjust his eyeglasses while wrestling with all the chains around his body. Correctional officers flanked each side of the room, their presence a constant reminder of the power imbalance that defines every aspect of the criminal justice system.
Massachusetts, the second highest cost-of-living state, according to Forbes, pays court-appointed defense attorneys $65 an hour. New Hampshire, which isn't in the top 10 most expensive places to live, pays its attorneys $125 an hour. Maine pays its attorneys $150 an hour. Why is there such a big difference?
This isn't just about wanting more money. It's also about whether Massachusetts is serious about equal justice. When defense attorneys are forced to choose between paying their bills and properly defending their clients, the constitutional foundation of our justice system crumbles. The Sixth Amendment right to counsel becomes an empty promise.
The Massachusetts Legislature can address this crisis by amending the proposed compensation language in the bar advocate compensation bill filed by Representative Christopher Markey of Dartmouth: raise rates for homicide cases to $155 an hour, Superior Court non-homicide cases to $120 an hour, and District Court cases to $100 an hour. This increase would help the state retain experienced attorneys and ensure constitutional rights remain more than empty promises.
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After 27 years as a bar advocate, I can say with certainty: Justice isn't just blind — it's also broken. Until Massachusetts pays what constitutional rights actually cost, the state will continue watching experienced defense attorneys abandon poor clients, leaving our most vulnerable citizens with lawyers who can't properly defend them. The choice is simple: Fund real justice or accept that equal justice is just empty courthouse decoration.
