Retired judges demand fair pay for bar advocates

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Even if criminal defendants never appeared before them, they appreciate the necessity of paying bar advocates a fair wage.

That’s the message 117 retired judges hope to convey with a recent open letter, which reads simply: “We, retired Massachusetts judges, call for fair pay for bar advocates.”

The signatories include judges who have sat on all seven state courts — Supreme Judicial Court, Appeals Court, Boston Municipal Court, District Court, Housing Court, Juvenile Court, Land Court, Probate & Family Court and Superior Court — along with the U.S. District Court.

While the judges may not have addressed the letter to the Legislature, that’s who they hope gets the message, some of the judges tell Lawyers Weekly.

“The criminal legal system cannot operate without an adequately funded defense,” says retired U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Gertner. “It is an adversary system, with one adversary underfunded and demeaned. This isn’t an ordinary line item. This is a constitutional mandate.”

Retired Judge Janet L. Sanders notes that for nearly a decade in the Business Litigation Session of the Superior Court, she presided over civil cases handled by lawyers charging over $1,000 an hour for their services.

“What was at stake was generally money,” she says. “Where a person’s liberty is at stake, however, the Legislature has apparently decided that an hourly rate for appointed counsel of $65 an hour is adequate. Clearly, it is not.”

Sanders adds that bar advocates perform an important service not just for their clients but for the court and the public.

“Without their services, the wheels of justice would come to a grinding halt,” she says.

Justice demands fair pay for bar advocates, says retired Superior Court Judge Mark D. Mason, a former bar advocate himself.

The importance of their work must be viewed within the practical context of running a law practice, Mason says.

“The $65 per hour Massachusetts pays is woefully insufficient to keep the lights on,” he says.

Former Appeals Court Judge R. Marc Kantrowitz puts the bar advocates’ financial predicament in perspective this way: “They know if their car breaks down, they will go see a mechanic and might get charged $120 an hour,” Kantrowitz says.

Both he and former Superior Court Chief Justice Suzanne V. DelVecchio point to other priorities the Legislature and Gov. Maura T. Healey’s administration have funded in recent weeks.

Kantrowitz notes the $5 million set aside in the 2026 state budget to create a legal defense fund for immigrants facing deportation, while DelVecchio highlights the $10 million price tag associated with the 2 percent pay raise received recently by 3,600 managers in the executive branch, which kicked in even as Healey announced she was stopping a planned January pay hike for those same managers.

The cumulative cost of the $35-an-hour increase sought by the bar advocates is many times those other expenditures — an estimated $100 million. Still, the Legislature needs to find the money, DelVecchio insists.

“Let’s get our priorities correct,” she says.

The judges’ letter comes as the bar advocates were also issuing a statement to address what they see as misconceptions about the circumstances that led up to SJC Justice Dalila Argaez Wendlandt invoking the Lavallee protocol, which has resulted in a series of hearings at which defendants held in custody for more than seven days without an attorney have been released, and those who have gone 45 days without an attorney have had their charges dismissed without prejudice.

Of particular concern have been calls from Healey and legislators for them to “get back to work,” the bar advocates say.

For example, Healey offered assurances on July 23 that the Legislature was “actively working” on resolving the work stoppage.

“My hope is that we see a resolution very, very quickly, and in the meantime, I’d like to see lawyers back in court representing defendants,” she told reporters.

Senate President Karen Spilka offered a similar remark during a media availability following a private leadership meeting with Healey, Lt. Gov. Kimberley Driscoll and House Speaker Ronald J. Mariano at the State House on July 28.

“We hope to get it resolved soon, but in the meantime, they should be working,” the State House News Service quoted Spilka as saying.

But if there is a deal imminent, bar advocates have not been brought into the loop, leaders of the effort, including Lowell attorney Sean T. Delaney, told SHNS.

Unlike the striking sanitation workers who have snarled trash and recycling collection in several Massachusetts communities, they are independent contractors with “no obligation to work for a fee lower than they determine adequate for their work,” the bar advocates note in a statement provided to Lawyers Weekly.

They have not stopped zealously representing clients they had taken on before the end of May, the bar advocates clarify. But new cases are another matter.

“Bar advocates are not indentured servants,” their statement reads. “If lawyers do not want to do this very tough work for the abysmal rates allocated by the Legislature, they simply don’t have to.”
The letter from the retired judges was signed by:

• Judge Stephen Abany, ret.
• Judge William H. Abrashkin, ret.
• Judge Alfred Barbalunga, ret.
• Judge Tom Barrett, ret.
• Judge Julie Bernard, ret.
• Judge Patricia Bernstein, ret.
• Judge Jay Blitzman, ret.
• Judge Michael Bolden, ret.
• Judge Isaac Borenstein, ret
• Judge Robert B. Calagione, ret.
• Judge Richard Carey, ret.
• Judge Don Carpenter, ret.
• Judge Martine Carroll, ret.
• Judge Louis D. Coffin, ret.
• Judge James G. Collins, ret.
• Judge J. Burt Conlon, ret.
• Judge John P. Cronin, ret.
• Judge John Cratsley, ret.
• Judge Beth Crawford, ret.
• Judge J. Elizabeth Cremens, ret.
• Judge John Curran, ret.
• Judge Pamela M. Dashiell, ret.
• Judge Suzanne V. Delvecchio, ret.
• Judge Lucille A. DiLeo, ret.
• Chief Justice Barbara Dortch-Okara, ret.
• Judge Raymond Dougan, ret.
• Judge Patty Dowling, ret.
• Judge Raya Dreben, ret.
• Judge Patricia Dunbar, ret.
• Chief Justice Michael F. Edgerton, ret.
• Judge Margaret S. Fearey, ret.
• Judge Ellen Flatley, ret.
• Judge Patricia A. Flynn, ret.
• Judge Daniel A. Ford, ret.
• Judge Annette Forde, ret.
• Judge Patrick Fox, ret.
• Judge Shannon Frison, ret.
• Judge Timothy Gailey, ret.
• Judge Gail Garinger, ret.
• Judge Nancy Gertner, ret.
• Judge Linda Giles, ret.
• Judge Mike Goggins, ret.
• Judge Karen Goodwin, ret.
• Judge Robert A. Gordon, ret.
• Judge Karen Green, ret.
• Chief Justice Mark Green, ret.
• Judge Sydney Hanlon, ret.
• Judge Christina Harms, ret.
• Judge Leslie Harris, ret.
• Judge Paul Heffernan, ret.
• Judge Herbert H. Hodos, ret.
• Judge Michele B. Hogan, ret.
• Judge Tom Horgan, ret.
• Judge Bob Howarth, ret.
• Judge Emogene Johnson Smith, ret.
• Judge Bertha Josephson, ret.
• Judge Robert Kane, ret.
• Judge R. Marc Kantrowitz
• Judge Peter Kilmartin, ret.
• Judge C. Jeffrey Kinder, ret.
• Judge Kenneth King, ret.
• Judge Patrick King, ret.
• Judge James L. LaMothe Jr., ret.
• Judge Peter Lauriat, ret.
• Judge Antoinette McLean Leoney, ret.
• Judge Paul LoConto, ret.
• Judge Leon J. Lombardi, ret.
• Judge Keith Long, ret.
• Judge Paul Losapio, ret.
• Judge Jack Lu, ret.
• Judge Paul Mahoney, ret.
• Judge Bonnie MacLeod, ret.
• Judge Edward J. McDonough Jr.
• Judge Christine McEvoy, ret.
• Judge James McHugh, ret.
• Judge Bob McKenna, ret.
• Judge Mark D. Mason, ret.
• Judge Richard A. Mori, ret.
• Judge C.J. Moriarty II, ret.
• Judge Diane Moriarty, ret.
• Judge Stephen Neel, ret.
• Judge Daniel W. O’Malley, ret.
• Judge John M. Payne Jr., ret.
• Judge Luis Perez, ret.
• Judge Laurence Pierce, ret.
• Judge Regina Quinlan Doherty, ret.
• Judge Edward J. Reynolds, ret.
• Judge Susan D. Ricci, ret.
• Judge David Seth Ross, ret.
• Judge Mary-Lou Rup, ret.
• Judge Tina Page, ret.
• Judge Jennifer S.D. Roberts, ret.
• Judge David Sacks, ret.
• Judge Jose Sanchez, ret.
• Judge Janet Sanders, ret.
• Judge Robert A. Scandurra, ret.
• Chief Justice Karyn Scheier, ret.
• Judge Sarah B. Singer, ret.
• Judge Eleanor Sinnott, ret.
• Judge Neil G. Snider, ret.
• Judge Francis X. Spina, ret.
• Judge Jeremy A. Stahlin, ret.
• Judge Stephen C. Steinberg, ret.
• Judge Anthony P. Sullivan, ret.
• Judge Thomas F. Sullivan, ret.
• Judge Daniel Swords, ret.
• Judge Paul Troy, ret.
• Judge Paul Waickowski, ret.
• Judge David Weingarten, ret.
• Judge Kathryn A. White, ret.
• Judge Mary Dacey White, ret.
• Judge Douglas Wilkins, ret.
• Judge H. Gregory Williams, ret.
• Judge Geoffrey A. Wilson, ret.
• Judge Paul M. Yee, ret.
• Judge Margaret Zaleski, ret.
• Judge Robert Ziemian, ret.