Your IMMEDIATE help is needed! The Massachusetts Legislature is currently considering House Bill 751 increasing the rate of pay for their bar advocates. Sponsored by Rep Cronin of Easton, House Bill 751 proposes:

The rates of compensation payable to all counsel, who are appointed or assigned to represent indigents within the private counsel division of the committee in accordance with the provisions of paragraph (b) of section 6, shall, subject to appropriation, be as follows: for homicide cases the rate of compensation shall be $140 per hour; for superior court non-homicide cases, including sexually dangerous person cases, the rate of compensation shall be $100 per hour; for district court cases, children in need of services cases, children and family law cases, care and protection cases, sex offender registry cases and mental health cases the rate of compensation shall be $75 per hour.

THIS BILL IS CURRENTLY LIVING IN THE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE AND MUST BE VOTED ON BY FEBRUARY 7, 2018. REP. CRONIN IS HEAD OF THAT COMMITTEE. WE NEED ALL OF YOU TO TAKE ACTION TO ADVOCATE FOR THIS BILL. OTHERWISE BILL 751 WILL BE SET ASIDE BY FEBRUARY 7, 2018.

Please call, write or email your local representative BEFORE FEBRUARY 7, 2018 and tell them that this measure is vital to continue the essential legal services provided to the indigent in the Commonwealth. If you don’t know your local rep, you can find them by following this link.

We also STRONGLY URGE that you email Robert A. DeLeo, the speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. To make that super easy for you, you can use this link to quickly write him a short note, addressing some of the following issues:

The length of time since the last rate increase

The strain in your life and legal practice caused by inadequate compensation

The increasing expenses of maintaining a law practice, e.g. office rent and health insurance

Send Email to Robert DeLeo

Kindly let us know once you’ve made contact with your state rep and/or Speaker DeLeo, so we can track the number of contacts. On behalf of MACDL’s Legislative Committee, we’d love to hear from you at: MACDL Legislative Committee.

Sincerely,
Derege Demissie, President