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Family Court attorney evades low-wage employment. Parents and Children Suffering.


New York’s board attorneys haven’t received a raise since 2004, when their hourly rates were set at $75 for felony and family court matters, and $60. for misdemeanors. Even if those amounts simply increased with inflation, they would be about $114 and $93 per hour.

Jury attorneys in South Dakota, where the cost of living is half that of New York, are paid $101 per hour.

Because these attorneys are independent contractors, not affiliated with organizations like the Legal Aid Association or the Bronx Defenders, they must pay for their own health care, office space, and expenses. other, causing their effective wages to fall even further.

As a result, fewer and fewer attorneys are willing to do these stressful, high-paying jobs.

Cynthia Godsoe, a professor at Brooklyn Law School who previously worked in family court, said that the failure to raise rates reflects the underlying apathy of New York City political authorities toward the lives of the most vulnerable.

“The family court, where these trials happen, is a poor people’s court, by definition,” she said. “The failure to remotely pay these attorneys close to what they need to be able to do a good job reflects a lack of understanding or disregard for those people’s basic rights as parents and Their lives are like family.”

In the past six years, in Manhattan alone, the number of panelists available to hear new cases in family court has nearly halved, from 70 to 39. In the Bronx, during that period, the number dropped to 48 from 80. And each borough has added only one new panel attorney since January 2021. Brooklyn and Queens have each lost about a fifth of their attorneys. panel since 2011.

The lack of lawyers has left those still overworked, with some refusing to take on new cases. In the absence of an attorney, disaster often ensues. In a letter to the court, a lawyer for the council, Fredericka Bashir, said that consequences often include:

  • Victims of domestic violence are denied protection by their abuser, leaving them vulnerable to abuse again.

  • Children are kept in foster care, because there is no attorney to look for them to return to their parents or guardians.

  • People who are falsely accused of domestic violence, because a protective order has been issued, they are forced to leave their homes without a trial in court.

When called for details last week, Ms. Bashir was, of course, in the middle of a trial. When she could, she offered a specific example, of a client who went to court without an attorney multiple times, seeking a protective order against her live-in boyfriend.



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