By Alison Kuznitz.
Bar advocates said Monday they have not been involved in any conversations with legislative leadership about a resolution to the labor crisis that has resulted in more than 100 court cases being dismissed, even though top House and Senate Democrats suggested the situation could be fixed “soon.”
House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka told reporters that their teams continue to work on a solution to the pay dispute that has led bar advocates to stop accepting new cases representing indigent defendants. Spilka called on the attorneys to reverse course in the meantime, contending that “people are being hurt” as a result of their stance.
“We hope to get it resolved soon, but in the meantime, they should be working,” Spilka told reporters on Monday afternoon following a private leadership meeting with Gov. Maura Healey, Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll and Mariano.
But Sean Delaney, a veteran attorney who has been heavily involved in organizing the labor action, said he was surprised by Spilka’s assessment of where things stand. “No information to that effect has made its way to the bar advocates as of, what is it? 4:49 p.m.?” he said in a late-afternoon interview.
Delaney said he and fellow bar advocate Jennifer O’Brien began speaking in “mid- to late winter” about their concerns with comparably low pay and the effects on cases. The private attorneys appointed to represent those who cannot afford counsel earn $65 per hour in District Court and $85 per hour in Superior Court, in both cases a good deal lower than in neighboring states.
In late May, hundreds of bar advocates decided to stop taking new cases to protest pay rates. The attorneys handle about 80 percent of the overall public defense caseload in Massachusetts.
“And I just want to add that I strongly urge the bar advocates to get back to work,” Spilka said. “They are being paid. They continue to be paid.” Asked to provide more details about negotiations and a potential legislative vehicle, Spilka responded, “Nope.”
Delaney, stressing that bar advocates continue to work on cases they accepted before late May, disputed use of the phrase “work stoppage.”
“I’m in court representing and defending, to the best of my ability, the poor in the commonwealth, as all my fellow bar advocates are,” Delaney said. “All we’ve done is said, ‘Listen, enough is enough. We’re not taking on any new cases.’ So, for the governor, the speaker, the Senate president, to say we must go back to work — we have not stopped working. It shows me they don’t have any regard for us, the work we do, or the clients that we represent.”
Top legislative Democrats have called the situation a “$100 million issue,” as the state continues to assess the economic and federal funding outlooks in Massachusetts.
Healey has maintained that bar advocates did not raise the issue with her before she filed her proposed fiscal 2026 budget in January. Spilka on Monday reiterated that point.
“The governor came out with her budget — there were no discussions prior to that, nothing was in the governor’s budget. The House came out with their budget in April, nobody raised anything about the need for more funding, or the concern about the funding,” Spilka said. “The Senate came out with some increase that was rejected. So we are now trying to resolve the issue and work it out.”
Keith Alpern, an attorney who has worked as a bar advocate since the mid-1980s, said he finds the tone elected officials have taken to be “totally disingenuous.” He pointed to a Boston Globe report that attorneys asked lawmakers for a raise as early as February and continued those requests during the spring, before bar advocates stopped taking new cases in late May.
“The idea that this was some shock is just nonsense,” Alpern said.
Bob McGovern, communications director at the Committee for Public Counsel Services, was in the House lobby speaking with reporters as the private meeting was underway, though he exited before the Beacon Hill leaders emerged.
“We have been in frequent communication with leadership in both the House and Senate as they work toward a resolution,” McGovern said in a statement to the News Service. “We remain hopeful that an agreement will be reached that prioritizes and benefits our clients.”
The House and Senate have formal sessions slated for this week, before the branches transition into their August recess that will still feature biweekly informal sessions. A supplemental budget remains unfinished and has been eyed as a potential venue to bump bar advocates’ pay.
Healey said she wants the stoppage resolved “immediately,” but also refrained from offering specific details about a potential resolution. “I am hopeful that we will see one very soon, and that will be announced at the appropriate time,” the governor said.
Some attorneys said they are unlikely to accept new cases until they secure a satisfactory raise, arguing that doing so would relinquish leverage.
Mariano acknowledged the thorny discussions at play. The Quincy Democrat said it is not a “traditional” negotiation due to individual contracts involved.
“So it’s hard to foresee where a middle ground might be, one that works for everybody because each one of these folks is an individual contractor. So, you may be talking to someone who only represents five people – you don’t know,” Mariano told reporters. “So you make an agreement with five people, and then you gotta do it 55 more times. We’re trying to get a consensus of where these folks would come back to work, and how much it would take to get them to come back to work.”
Neither Healey nor legislative leaders have taken a stance on whether they believe attorneys’ pay should be raised, nor have they dictated a specific figure they think attorneys should be paid.
