Criminal lawyers in Wisconsin are petitioning the state legislature to raise the rate they are paid on court-appointed cases, according to the Wisconsin Law Journal. Currently, Wisconsin has one of the lowest rated of reimbursement in the nation, paying court-appointed lawyers $40 an hour. The proposal is to raise that up to $70 an hour. Lawyers working Federal court cases are currently reimbursed at $110 an hour. Not surprisingly, in a difficult economic time and with the state budget stretched thin, there is fierce debate on whether or not the raise is warranted. "Why should this be a higher priority than providing tax relief for families that are trying to get by and pay their bills so they don’t become indigent?," asked Republican Representative Rich Zipperer. Supporters of the raise say that the low fees are resulting in unqualified attorneys taking on the appointments. Carolyn Elefant, a lawyer in private practice who writes the blog Legal Blog Watch, agrees court-appointed lawyers are underpaid, but that most lawyers should not be trying to live solely on court-appointed work. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that the number of law jobs will increase about as fast as the national average from 2006 to 2016, increasing to approximately 844,000 jobs.  |