Lawyers deserve raise

Despite the risk of offending the state court judges I appear in front of on a daily basis, I feel compelled to respond to the Jan. 9 article, “Judges seeking 16% pay increase.”

Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Patience Roggensack has proposed that the Legislature increase judicial base salaries from $131,000 to approximately $152,000. Roggensack noted that Wisconsin ranks 41st in the country for pay to trial judges and she rhetorically asked, “When has Wisconsin ever wanted to be 41st with anything?”

Wisconsin ranks last in the country in the rate that it pays private attorneys willing to take cases appointed by the public defender’s office. Wisconsin’s $40 an hour rate is the same, whether the lawyer is defending a murder case or a charge of disorderly conduct. Wisconsin’s hourly rate, when the Public Defender’s Office was established in 1978, was set at $35 an hour. Lawyers who have been practicing for 20 years have not seen the rate increase by even a dollar.

The constitutional right to counsel is fundamental to our system of justice. And there is, as Roggensack noted, a direct relationship between pay and quality. If Wisconsin taxpayers want experienced attorneys standing up for their constitutional rights, then those lawyers are long overdue for a raise.

Anthony D. Cotton

President, Wisconsin Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Waukesha