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Article published Jan 19, 2005
Lawyers want more to defend the poor
ALEXANDER MORRISON
Staff Writer
Private lawyers will
likely pursue a rate hike for indigent defense work when they gather for the
2005 South Carolina Bar Convention this week.Courts sometimes assign private
attorneys to cases with defendants who have no means of paying their legal
expenses.The state Office of Indigent Defense currently pays private attorneys
$40 per hour for out-of-court work and $60 per hour in-court for their work on
those cases.The group currently spends about $1 million statewide to compensate
private attorneys on cases where the death penalty is not being sought."You're
barely covering your overhead with what they pay you," said Tam Boggs, who
worked 300 hours on the capital murder trial of Fredrick Evins in 2004. Billing
for death-penalty cases is at a slightly higher rate.Boggs explained lawyers
cannot simply pocket the money, but must pay for expenses such as staff,
research and office rent and upkeep.According to the state Bar, 3,922 indigent
criminal cases were referred to private lawyers from July 1, 2003, to June 30,
2004.The Bar Association will likely approve a resolution to raise compensation
rates that it will later pitch to the state Legislature. The resolution
recommends $75 per hour for lawyers who have three to five years of experience,
$80 for six to nine years in practice and $100 per hour for those with more than
10 years experience.One former head of the association believes the resolution
will pass its first test."There's a push almost every year in the Bar
Association," said Spartanburg attorney Ken Anthony."I'd be pretty amazed if it
didn't pass."While convincing lawyers to give themselves raises has been easy,
lawmakers in Columbia have not given it such a high priority.Lawmakers last gave
lawyers a compensation boost in 1994, when lawyers were being paid $10 per hour
for out-of-court work."This is something we really need to push," said state
Sen. John Hawkins, R-Spartanburg, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee and
is a trial lawyer.Hawkins said people have a constitutional right to legal
counsel."We need to make sure we are compensating (those who provide it)," he
said.Ed McMullen, president of the South Carolina Policy Council, was less
sympathetic."This is pro bono work they should be doing for the community,"
McMullen said. "The price of being an attorney is representing people who can't
afford to pay for one."Some attorneys believe low levels of compensation have
the potential to affect the quality of defense poor people received in the
courtroom."I feel like I fight as hard for them in court as I do (private
clients)," said Boggs. "I could see that having a bearing (on some attorneys),
but I don't know for a fact."Alexander Morrison can be reached at (864) 562-7215
or alex.morrison@shj.com.