Assigned Counsel Rates Information

The private bar plays a vital role in a healthy public defense delivery system. In large cities, private attorneys fill a critical gap, handling cases in which institutional defenders have conflicts and work overload; in small towns the private bar may be the only public defense provider, managing court-appointments in addition to their practices; and in all instances, the private bar brings a crucial perspective and expertise to the public defense system and the clients they represent. Yet in far too many places these lawyers are asked to labor without adequate compensation.