CrimLaw

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An article addressing indigent representation. If Virginia wants better indigent representation I have a solution: remove caps on fees or at least double the cap for felonies and triple it for criminal misdemeanors and DUI's. Capping misdemeanors at $112 means that if you do mostly criminal law and you want to keep your office doors open you cannot put too much effort into too many misdemeanors. A $395 cap on most felonies means you can put more effort: call the officer, call a witness or two, meet with the prosecutor to negotiate, and do all the paper work involved in the motions and discovery. At $90 per hour you might even be able to do your pretrial work completely (while still being paid) before you go to court. Of course, if any of your clients decide they want a jury you will put much, much more time in than that for which you are paid. Can't afford too many jury trials if you want to keep your office viable.

I make most of my money from indigent representation. I would love to have enough money coming in my front door to be able to employ a secretary and a paralegal. It would defintely raise the level of my representation - which I (in an obvious lack of humility) like to think isn't too shabby as it currently stands - to a new level of competency.

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