Court-appointed defense lawyers costs nearly doubled in 2023

A change implemented last year in how Westmoreland County pays defense lawyers appointed by judges to represent indigent criminal defendants nearly doubled costs for the program in 2023.

Faced with opposition from the pool of lawyers who sought higher pay, the county in June shifted back to a system where defense attorneys appointed in cases where the public defender’s office has a conflict of interest are now paid on an hourly basis.

With a mid-year abandonment of the contract system, costs for private court-appointed defense attorneys exploded, with bills topping $474,000.

The county had a contract in place with 10 defense lawyers for the first five months of last year that cost taxpayers more than $243,000 through May. From June through the end of last year, the county doled out another $230,894 through hourly billings to lawyers who represented indigent criminal defendants, according to Westmoreland County Court Administrator Amy DeMatt.

Under terms of a set contract with 10 private attorneys in 2022, the county paid them $225,000 to serve as conflict counsel in 400 cases.

“I’ve heard no complaints, and everyone seems OK with the new system,” DeMatt said.

Court-appointed private lawyers are paid $60 an hour to represent indigent clients. It’s similar to a system that had been in place prior to 2013 when county leaders and court officials implemented a program that capped spending on court-appointed lawyers in cases were conflicts prevented public defender’s office attorneys from representing clients.

Defense attorneys under both the old contract system and new hourly rate plan receive higher wages if appointed to represent clients in homicide cases or appeals, DeMatt said.

“We were really underpaid,” said defense attorney Tim Dawson. Dawson, an Adamsburg-based defense lawyer who has served as conflict counsel over the last decade. “It was the pay and the number of cases we had to take.”

Westmoreland commissioners in October 2022 renewed the contract with the defense lawyers for 2023 under the same terms as the previous year, $22,500 annually, even as the lawyers asked for a raise. A revised three-month contract was approved in January, and renewed in March that runs through May. That amended contract called for defense lawyers to be paid $2,083 a month to handle 17 new cases.

It resulted in an 11% raises for defense attorneys.

But, continued discontentment with the pay scale led to the system being scrapped last June and a return to an unlimited hourly payment system. Attorneys, as they did prior to 2013, now submit hourly bills to county judges to approve in each appointed case.

“Under the old system the economic result was bad for us. We were being asked to represent defendants in trials who were charged with felonies without being fairly compensated,” Dawson said.

DeMatt said judges have the discretion to appoint specific lawyers to serve as conflict counsel.

Public Defender Wayne McGrew said conflict counsel system is necessary to ensure all indigent defendants are represented in court. His office, with its 14-staff attorneys, have an annual caseload of about 3,000. Staff shortages over the last year left the office unable to handle its full caseload and required the additional use of private lawyers, he said.

“Nobody has said they are having issues with the new system,” McGrew said.

Officials said they anticipate new labor deal enacted earlier this month with the union that represents public defenders, as well as assistant district attorneys, will help keep the office fully staffed and mitigate the need for more court-appointed lawyers.

That contract raised starting salaries and increased pay to veteran attorneys by about 24%, officials said. The starting salaries for public defenders and assistant district attorneys, under the new contract, is $65,000 a year.