Congress Raises Rates $10 Per Hour After 2005 Survey Shows Menial Net Compensation to CJA Attorneys.
After March 11, 2009, attorneys accepting assignments under the federal Criminal Justice Act (CJA) get a $10 per hour pay raise for representing defendants financially unable to retain counsel in federal criminal proceedings. The rates have been raised from $100 to $110 per hour (although rates went up to $175 per hour for capital cases). However, case maximum fee caps also apply depending on the type of criminal case involved.
Nationwide, CJA appointments go 58% to federal defenders and 42% to private attorneys on the CJA panel.
The rate hike was likely inspired by a 2005 survey showing CJA attorneys incurred $64 per hour overhead on these cases, meaning they netted just $36 per hour before taxes.
For more information on the pay hike, see Marcia Coyle’s article, “Congress Raises Fee For Federal Court-Assigned Counsel,” in the March 27, 2009 edition of the New York Law Journal.