History of Bar Advocate?

In Gideon v. Wainwright 372 U.S. 335 (1963), 

The Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution requires the states to provide defense attorneys to criminal defendants charged with serious offenses who cannot afford lawyers themselves.

The "Bar Advocate" program in Massachusetts originated through the establishment of the "County Bar Advocate Program," which was a court-appointed counsel system affiliated with various county bar associations across the state; this program was later consolidated under the Massachusetts Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS) in 1983, effectively creating the modern Bar Advocate system as it is known today. 

In 2004, Bar Advocates stopped taking cases and basically closed the courts down for over a month. They had no other option as the state legistature ignored their request for cost of living increases. At that time, the hourly wage was $25 per hour for a district court case.  After the walkout, the rates were changed and District court was changed to $50 per hour.   The legislature has again forgotten and/or ignored the hard working attorneys who do this type of work.  In the past 20 years, the rates have only increase $15 per hour to $65 per hour for District Court.  This is well below the cost of living increases that one would get in the private sector.  

As a comparison,  

Judge:  $112,777 in 2001, now make $207,000 with all benefits and pension

Clerks:  Get roughly $130,000 per year with all the benefit and pension

After the walkout in 2004, the courts decided the Lavallee case. In Lavallee, the Court imposed an emergency protocol (the “Lavallee protocol”), requiring the Commonwealth to release from pretrial detention all indigent defendants who did not receive a lawyer within seven days, and the courts to dismiss without prejudice the cases of those indigent defendants who did not receive a lawyer within 45 days.

Unfortunately the Bar Advocate walkout in 2004 taught the state legislature nothing.  The poor pay and high cost to work and live in Massachusetts is destroying the Bar Advocate program and affecting the rights of defendants across the Commonwealth.  Massachusetts cost of living is 45.9% higher than the rest of the country.  Click here for 2025 cost of living index.   The pay rate for Bar Advocates is extremely low compared to other states.