The last time we accepted a state court appointment, our president was intoning "I did not have sexual relations with that woman!" Not in the same league as Lincoln's letter to Mrs. Bixby, as presidential communications go, but it places into context how long it has been for us.
And rightfully so. A lawyer's evolution should be from county court to felony court, to appointments, to "I'm sorry Mr. President, but I am too busy to take your case, and anyway I am not admitted in New York State."
But appointments are an issue in the REGJB, and this is your go-to REGJB blog, right? As well as your go to blog for all issues of the day. This comment was posted yesterday, and it caught our eye and is worthy of a front-page post and additional discussion. So have at it. Do you take court appointments and what are your experiences?
We all got an email from FACDL/ Judge Wolfson complaining that we are turning down court appointments at an alarming rate. JA's are tired of calling 6 lawyers trying to get one to take the damn case and they don't understand why we say NO. Prosecutors and Judges need to read this:
So, we get a call from the JA for a judge who is a real jerk. You know, the judge who bitches and complains about you not having this 50 witness, 3 co-defendant case ready for trial in 4 weeks after arraignment. The judge who you simply hate talking to. The JA says you are next up on a client, in jail, who does not speak your language and has burned through two previous wheel lawyers. That means for all your work, you must split the fee with the other lawyers and possibly the bailiff will make more money per hour than you will. (No insult meant to bailiffs). You just know that client and his family threatened the previous lawyers with death and injury so, you know the client is a going to be a total asshole.
On top of this, the PD represents one and a wheel lawyer represents the other. The wheel lawyer has no staff, works from home and NEVER returns a call or email. The PD has 500 cases on her audit and is a great person but, very busy.
Then if you take the case, when you bill, JAC nitpicks the bill to death. You spend about 4 hours working on the bill only to have them object to $4.90 on it and you have to wait to get a hearing and fight for every penny. Oh, BTW, the client files a Bar complaint saying you have not communicated enough with him but, JAC doesn't want to pay your bill for that many jail visits.
So, you say, I'm mad as hell and I'm not taking it (the case) anymore. (Watch the 1976 movie "Network" to understand that quote.)
Then, you read about lawyers who billed more than 24 hours in a single day and you saw it coming. You have sat through JAC fee hearings where you watched lawyers billing $30k on a F3 and you know that lawyer and you know that lawyer didn't do anything even close to that much work. (Flip side, you know lawyers who do a great job and don't over bill).
So, Mr./Ms. judge or JA, now you know we turn down court appointments. You get what you pay for!
29 comments:
Nobody said this yesterday and considering the history of the blog it’s surprising. So I’ll close out the Trump discussion with a blog original.
Calling Shumie Time on Trump!
Stick a fork in that fattie.
He’s done !
Yes, that comment hit the nail on the head. I don't expect to get rich from court appointments but even with a reduced rate I do expect to get paid for the work I do - something impossible under the current system. If I bill a case today JAC will take a few weeks to respond and object to everything, then, I will have to do a hearing and I'll be lucky to get paid by July. The flat fees are laughable. Either way, I'm being underpaid for what amounts to lots of work for little pay and a giant headache. No thanks. Yes, I understand the death wheel lawyers ruined what should be an easy process for everyone, however, I am not going to pay for the good ole boys misdeeds.
I remember the good old days in the 1980s. Client went on a crack spree and stole beer from the same farm store ten days in a row and would come in every day waving a stick. 10 armed robberies on ten separate days. If I recall the flat fee was 3500 per case. Plea it out with a drug deviation under the guidelines. A nice 35k from the county all for a $500 donation to a judge and slipping him my card when I went to the fundraiser.
I took wheel cases back in 2006 when I went out on my own, but only got on the F2 and F3 wheel, even though I was qualified to take cases on the F1 wheel. I would always get calls about why I didn't get on the F1 or death wheel. Screw that. The F2s and F3s were plenty. It all probably evened out between the cases I worked alot on and the cases in which I did nominal work due to diversion or drug court and the like. But the pay was awful and it took forever to get paid. I wouldn't dare try to bill for increased fees because the a-hole Jason Bloch would sit in his ivory tower and just object to everything. Or the a-hole ASA that was somehow arguing that you should make about $26.00 per hour if you divide your hours into the fee. And yes, the judges would not treat you any better even though you were doing them a "favor."
All in all it was an okay experience. Good way to give back to the community, I guess. The pay kept the lights on, but is never going to make you rich. Your best hope is that you break even or a little ahead, but that one of those clients refers you a good case down the road. At some point, I just didnt renew myself for the wheel and I guess I got purged.
I take court appointments. I like to give back but also I love the action and getting back into the building after being gone for so long. Rumpole you are a snob and have forgotten your roots apparently!
Haha you work at the ROC bro.
Never take a case when a PCAC attorney has withdrawn without first calling that attorney and asking why they withdrew before making your decision to accept.
JAC has not raised the hourly rates in years. It's $75.00 per hour. You can't bill for many time consuming activities like preparing Notices of Hearings, scheduling depositions with co-counsel and ASA's , court reporters, Notice of Depositions, Motions and Orders to transcribe, etc., etc. The list of "non-billable" activity keeps growing.
The attorney fee hearing procedure is demeaning. You have to grovel for to be paid. One Judge scolds and says "you need to be reminded that these are like "pro bono"
cases".
JAC makes the process of getting a long form bill approved increasingly more difficult to the point of being absolutely ridiculous. It takes much more than 12 hours to prepare a long form bill then MONTHS to get through an audit, then you have to give JAC a 20 day Notice for a fee hearing which only happens once per month. They keep changing the rules in fine print then issue an "Audit Deficiency Notice" which keep your bill in the twilight zone. You cannot reach a live person at the JAC anymore.
Furthermore, as an aside,the state wastes an incredible amount of taxpayers money prosecuting and not dismissing BS cases. Many ASA's -not all- don't respond to emails or calls. We need more Plea Blitzes.
I don't mind the low pay but the JAC is way too bureaucratic to deal with. Perhaps if the JAC was removed from the picture I could overlook the other issues. Also, waiting for so long to get paid turns many of these cases into found money. I respect Judge Wolfson so much but there needs to be some reciprocity...many of these appointment's are nightmares from the unreasonable and unrealistic clients to unaccommodating judges and finally a JAC where they are totally impossible to deal with. Stop shitting on us defense lawyers and maybe things will change
Amen 8:24.
Attorneys need to contact the JAC and complain about the bureaucratic BS they keep requiring which prolongs the processing of bills beyond reason. Most auditors are not bad but a few are
totally ridiculous.
4:44 pm thank you for giving me a reminder to clarify this. I’m not a snob. And doing court appointments is a good way to give back. I do a lot of pro bono in state and federal court. Quite frankly I realized I was doing pro bono court appointments because the paperwork was too complicated and taking too long. That’s why I quit. The bureaucracy.
A big problem is that the JAC has zero insight and comprehension as to what it’s like to be a defense attorney. Favorable results very often don’t happen by accident, it’s hard and creative work
I fondly recall the "old days' when the judge could appoint anyone they desired. Then, after the case was over the attorney would submit affidavits from other lawyers about the value of the services of their friend. The court would grant it and the County would pay it. I recall when I left government service I received a $25,000 fee for a rape case I tried ( and won) before the great Judge Wilkie Ferguson. Those were great times.
Shumie time on court appointments
The anger towards JAs, even judges, in this post is misplaced. They are trying to get work done in the same nonsensical system as the attorneys. Here's reality: the year is 2023 and REGJB runs a near paper-only operation. Most companies moved to digital filing systems in the early 2000s. USB flash-drives came out in 2000, the iPhone was released in 2007, ChatGPT AI launched in 2022, and, in 2023, REGJB still does not have a digital filing or scheduling system. Is this the JA's fault? No. Is this the Judge's fault? No. The broken JAC wheel and billing process is only a small part of a horrifically designed system that is held together by good-hearted public servants. No one at the courthouse has the necessary power to redesign the system.
"So, Mr./Ms. judge or JA, now you know we turn down court appointments. You get what you pay for!" HA... You think JAs and judges are getting paid the big bucks?
There was a time I would do these cases for the lower fee to give back and provide representation for the indigent. The entire system has become a nightmare to deal with. I was also told in a hearing fighting to get paid to treat these cases as "pro bono." If i'm following correctly i'm not supposed to reject an appointment, i'm not supposed to get a fair fee for my work - i should just shut up, dedicate office and staff resources and my time to multiple cases at a time. Me thinks my time is better spent elsewhere.
True dat 10:42!
WOW! A F%&% STAR is BORN. Tenn. Dem. Rep. JUSTIN PEARSON!
From a LEO who started in Dade in 1974 to later putting myself through law school while still working on the street and later being an ASA in Broward for 20 years, thereafter relocating to NCF it seems to me that JAC has become an abyss of state government. Seems to me without a factual basis to support it my opinion as I'm too busy working my cases,that the JAC lawyers are doing whatever the bean counters are telling them to do. I believe that's a problem. SAO5
Yup, I too have turned down a few appointments. Life is too short to take an appointment in certain courtrooms....Remember Joe Fernandez? Who on earth would have accepted an appointment in front of that grumpy old man? Remember Dava Tunis? Every sentence started with, "I don't want to be rude but,..." Do I really need Ellen Sue bitching at me? Do I really need $800.00 to have Milton Hirsch screaming at me for being in another courtroom at 9:00 when his royal highness wants me there?
That being said, I'd take an appointment in front of Andrea Wolfson any day. What a pleasure!
What ever happened to the David Peckins investigation? Was he cleared.?
Nobody is angry with JA's. This is all about WHY we turn down appointments not, why JA's are angry.
Ditto-7:45AM You took the words right out of my mouth! I would add Richard Hersch to the turn down list and Judges who won't do zoom on sounding days.
The state JAC system has grown far too bureaucratic, I see from these comments, and from the FACDL-Miami listserv which occasionally casts some light on the current practice.
I am shocked to hear the system has become so turgid that people who would gladly take cases, even if poorly paid, to aid indigent defendants as part of their duty as lawyers are being driven out by the ridiculous amounts of time and taxpayer money wasted --- by the JAC. Audits? Hearings? I never heard of such a thing. And judges who are not doing their best to ease the path of those who are doing this important work?
What is the committee which chooses PCAC doing to assist in this matter? For, let's face it, helping the lawyers is vital to the goal of providing competent counsel for the indigent.
Me too April 7 4: 26 pm. I'm tired of the Hirsch/Hersch brothers yelling at us. Boy have they forgotten where they came from.
I’ll never understand why a judge has to be grumpy and rude. Yea , I know you see a lot of BS come your way but you saw the same BS before you took the bench You have, comparatively speaking, one of the easiest and least stressful jobs in law. If you wouldn’t act a certain way off the bench ; because you’d get punched in the face, then why act that way on the bench. It’s the same names that come up as being rude, aren’t you embarrassed?
You have no idea 6:04 PM the ridiculous hoops SOME-not all- JAC auditors are requiring PCAC attorneys to jump thorough.
Nightmare Scenario:
You file a long form bill on a case you got dismissed in ROC court after more than a year of relentless fighting.
They issue a form over substance "Audit Deficiency" where they ask you to fill out a "FORM" explaining why case is extraordinary even though you originally submitted a 2 page "letter" with your bill explaining every detail required in the "form". You immediately respond to their request and comply.
They keep a bill for months with no movement and refuse to answer specific inquiries as to what is the holding up the process. You respond multiple times with the "FORM" they requested to the exact same audit deficiency.Only one was issued but nothing you send clears the deficiency. No additional Audit Deficiency is received.
You can cannot reach anyone at JAC by phone. All is done by email to a help line that in the past actually did "help" and answer a phone call. Now the phone message directs you to send an email. You send the email. JAC responds with the run around response "The auditor has issued an Audit Deficiency", which of course you already knew. They do not, cannot, or will not answer the specific question asked "What is holding up the processing of this bill for MONTHS when a response to the same Audit Deficiency has been filed multiple times?"
This is the nightmare I am currently facing in a ROC court case where my difficult and very angry client was facing life. He could not take a plea even to a misdemeanor because he was on controlled release from 35 year prison sentence. Case was finally "dismissed" after more than a year of creative litigating. Until something drastically changes at the JAC,this is the last ROC court case I will ever accept.
There are no good judges left in criminal since Hanzman left. None. Zip. Zero! The place stincks.
I haven't taken a court appointment since the wheel started some 30 years ago.
You get what you pay for is sooooo true. Many "wheel" lawyers are good people doing a decent job but, a bunch do almost nothing for the clients. I've seen it over and over as a recently departed ASA. I must say that I always saw PD and RC lawyers work hard and do a decent job.
Post a Comment