http://66.225.205.104/LM20111007.mp3
North Carolina depends heavily on private practice lawyers to represent clients who can't afford a lawyer. This year big state budget reductions forced court-appointed attorneys to take a pay cut. When the Office of Indigent Defense Services notified lawyers this spring that the state would be cutting their pay, a couple hundred said they'd no longer be willing to take on cases for their districts.
That was especially a problem in Bladen County in eastern North Carolina. There, all the court-appointed lawyers took themselves off the Public Defender's list. As a result judges had to force attorneys to take cases. Danielle Carman with the state's Office of Indigent Defense Services says since then many lawyers across the state have decided to get back on the list.
"I think it's definitely better than some of the fears, but it's still difficult," says Carman. Those attorneys who once made $75 an hour are now making $55 an hour for district court cases and $70 an hour for the most serious felony cases. Carman says it costs small law firms about $55 an hour to break even. "We still got coverage of cases, though it's probably less experienced attorneys on average that are handling them, at least at the district court level," says Carman.
David Gadd helps vet court-appointed attorneys for the second district in the eastern part of the state. He's also one of two lawyers willing to act as public defenders in Tyrrell County. Two other lawyers called it quits after the state lowered rates.
"It's put a little bit of strain on the system in that in cases where there are many conflicts we've had to just call up lawyers from different areas and ask them if they'd be assigned to a specific matter," says Gadd. Those lawyers come from nearby counties. Gadd says his load is manageable now, but the county would have a problem if just one more lawyer decided not to take on public defender cases.