Appellate service providers rallied outside City Hall on Wednesday demanding the city fund their office and bring a wage increase for attorneys as a mass strike of public defenders threatens to throw the court system into disarray.
Organized by the Association of Legal Advocates and Attorneys, the city’s largest public defender union, nearly 60 appellate public defenders marched outside City Hall calling on the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice to increase funding to their offices. Chief among their demands is MOCJ and the Office of Management and Budget raise the wage floor for all appellate service providers.
According to ALAA organizers, some appellate service providers are making under $50,000 a year, which they said is just not a living wage while attorneys face burgeoning caseloads. Appellate organization representatives say they’ve only been offered a freeze on the pay scale or a 3 percent increase, which organizers say is nowhere near enough to meet their demands…