When PSLawNet asked me to write an essay for their new blog with some advice for public-interest law students, I happily agreed. The essay, “five things I wish I’d known in law school,” went up on the PSLawNet blog today.
Today I visited the Malden District Court with a client, where a person who shall remain anonymous (but not a defense attorney) told me, “I could tell you must be CPCS; they’re the only ones who care about their clients.”
I know this is a false statement. I have seen many private attorneys and bar advocates go above and beyond for their clients on countless occasions.
I have also seen many private attorneys and bar advocates dodge trials, minimize work, and do a disservice to their clients by giving less than the full zealous advocacy that they owe.
It’s up to you, attorneys: every single one of us is responsible to fight for our clients’ stated objectives,* give them the best advice possible about their options, and stand up to those who view them as so subhuman that the facts and law do not matter. We must prove to the world that defense attorneys are not just in it for the paycheck, nor are we mere ushers to the penitentiary. To the extent that we may sometimes feel downtrodden and irrelevant, it is up to us to prove our relevance. Go. Fight. Win.
The muck that the Boston Herald scraped out of the courthouse toilets and published yesterday provides an opportunity to discuss something I’ve been meaning to post about: public defender salaries.
It seems that many people, both lawyers and non-lawyers, think that when public defenders say we make “no money,” that that’s only true by the standards of high-flying corporate executives and partners at BIGLAW. We’re still lawyers, people think, and that means we must get paid a fair heap of money, by the rest of the world’s standards. Otherwise, why would lawyers take the job?
Because we’re masochists. Because we care about what we do so much that we’re willing to do it for the peanuts that the legislature deigns to pay us.
The Herald quoted Stephanie Page’s salary at $99,000 a year, but it didn’t tell you who Stephanie is. She’s a hardened veteran of the criminal courts, with 30 years trial experience. She is, in short, a god of trial practice. If she wanted to, she could be hauling in boatloads of money as the Clarence Darrow of the 21st century.
The starting salary, for a new public defender at CPCS is $37,500. That’s what Alex and I make. It’s not a lot, especially in the Greater Boston area. Most of the new lawyers in our training class pay half their salary or more in rent.
We are not making out like bandits with your tax dollars. Nobody in the indigent defense profession is.