Prosecutors, public defenders need a pay hike

ONE OF the government’s main responsibilities is to ensure that citizens get fair access to the court system, but recent studies by the Massachusetts Bar Association and a gubernatorial commission found that the relatively low salaries paid to public defenders and assistant district attorneys are hampering the ability of Massachusetts residents to get justice. While a cash-strapped Beacon Hill might be loath to increase salaries, it is neither cost-effective nor efficient to underpay prosecutors and defenders.

According to the bar association report, Massachusetts public defenders are the worst paid in the nation once their $40,000 annual salary is adjusted for the cost of living. Assistant district attorneys have it even worse — their state-mandated, first-year pay is $37,500, making them the lowest paid people in the courtroom, including custodians. Both offices abound with anecdotal stories of young lawyers having to work as bartenders or live at home with their parents just to make ends meet while paying off their law school debts.

The results are predictable. Suffolk District Attorney Dan Conley — who, to his credit, manages to pay his starting lawyers $40,000 a year — estimates that half of his office has less than five years of experience. He said his office experienced 20 percent turnover in 2013. Jack Cinquegrana, who chairs the Committee for Public Counsel Services, the state’s public defender agency, told the Globe’s Sacha Pfeiffer that young lawyers typically leave the public defender’s office after one to three years. That means Massachusetts residents are relying on lawyers without much experience.

A properly functioning state justice system requires that prosecutors and defense lawyers are appropriately compensated. But the state is facing a budget shortfall estimated to be $750 million. Increasing salaries for lawyers will be a tough sell, especially as lawmakers contemplate painful cuts to other state departments. A pay raise now, however, could defray other costs down the line.

The state has not calculated how much it spends on the training and recruitment of new lawyers. But a study of Florida’s court system — which offers salaries similar to those in Massachusetts and has a similar turnover rate — estimated that these efforts could have cost the Sunshine State some $7.6 million in 2014. And the experience of other states that pay significantly more than Massachusetts shows that higher salaries keep lawyers in public service for longer. For example, the public defender’s office in Washington, D.C., pays its first-year lawyers in the trial division more than $67,000. The majority of them stay for at least three years, and many stay for more than eight.

Both the gubernatorial commission and the Massachusetts Bar Association recommend that pay for new lawyers should be increased to $55,000 a year. Beacon Hill should try to find a way to grant those salaries. A good place to start would be to study just how much money the state spends on retraining and recruitment. Lawmakers might discover that the salary increases are a lot less expensive over time.