106 Cases, Three Jobs, One Lawyer The city’s public defenders are struggling.
New York Magazine, March 7, 2023: 106 Cases, Three Jobs, One Lawyer: The city’s public defenders are struggling.
“The attorneys working for the Legal Aid Society are under immense strain thanks to a funding crisis that’s led to high turnover of crucial staff due to immense workloads and chronically low salaries. The public defenders who haven’t left for better-paying jobs are forced to take on additional cases from their departing colleagues. And like Toussaint, sometimes they pick up outside work to afford living in one of the nation’s most expensive cities while shouldering heavy student-loan debt .
“The nonprofit, which provides its services for free to low-income New Yorkers who qualify, receives the majority of its funding from both the city and the state. That funding has not kept up with skyrocketing costs for rent, utilities, health insurance and their labor contracts which increase three percent every year. ‘We are in a fiscal crisis and it’s unsustainable,’ said Twyla Carter, the organization’s chief executive officer.
“In November, Carter sent a letter to Mayor Eric Adams, requesting $82 million in additional funding from the city to address these costs, improve Legal Aid’s ability to retain and recruit staff, and update antiquated technology. She also called on the city to change its slow-moving contract process, which causes Legal Aid to have to wait so long for reimbursements that it sometimes struggles to pay vendors and make payroll. ‘The real devastation outside of dollars and cents, it’s our staff and attorneys,’ she said. ‘They can’t keep doing this. We have folks that have second jobs. We have folks that are leaving for other jobs to move out of the state and we can’t replace them.’”
Additional reading:
WSWS.org, February 17, 2023: 1,000 Legal Aid workers in New York City hold walkout in contract struggle
