NYSBA President Says the Right to Counsel in New York Must Be More Than an Empty Promise
3.20.2023
Sherry Levin Wallach, president of the New York State Bar Association, issued the following statement regarding NYSBA’s filings seeking to have the court issue a preliminary injunction raising compensation for Attorneys for the Children and 18-B lawyers:
“The state has disregarded the need to provide more funding for the representation of children and indigent adults for nearly two decades, creating a shortage of attorneys willing to take on these cases and leaving those remaining with heavy caseloads and inadequate resources. Although the state argues that the change should come through the legislative process, the governor has not proposed any additional state funds in her budget to pay for an increase in pay for assigned counsel in criminal matters.
“We have filed papers arguing that assigned counsel and Attorneys for the Children should be paid $164 an hour throughout New York State – the same rate that their counterparts in the federal courts receive. For the constitutional right to counsel to be anything more than an empty promise, we cannot ignore this disparity for even one more day. The NYSBA lawsuit seeks to have New York live up to its responsibility under the constitution to New Yorkers in need.”
