WSMV Investigates yesterday published a piece highlighting one family’s experience with Tennessee’s current system of court-appointed representation in the juvenile and criminal courts. A shortage of court-appointed attorneys representing the indigent in Tennessee has led to people languishing in jail despite having not been convicted of a crime, the news outlet reports. Part of that shortage is due to the low reimbursement rate for these court-appointed attorneys. Tennessee's rate is the lowest in the country at $50 per hour and has not changed in more than 25 years. The Administrative Office of the Courts announced in October that it would ask the state legislature to increase compensation for court-appointed attorneys in the juvenile and criminal courts.

Tennessee court officials will ask legislators for more money next year to raise the hourly rate to $80 for attorneys doing appointed work in criminal and juvenile cases. “Court proceedings can’t happen without court-appointed attorneys, but attorneys can’t afford to take cases at the current rates,” Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice Holly Kirby said in a news release today. “The criminal justice and juvenile court systems are running out of options.” Tennessee’s reimbursement rate for court-appointed attorneys is the lowest in the country and has not changed since 1997. “Paying lawyers such low rates doesn’t make the cases go away. It just means cases are delayed, overturned, or returned to the trial court on appeal. That doesn’t help anyone,” Kirby said. “It’s not efficient or cost-effective."

TBA President Jim Barry applauded Chief Justice Kirby's sentiments and the AOC’s decision to seek increased funding. "On behalf of attorneys across Tennessee, the TBA has long advocated for increased rates and caps for the many court-appointed attorneys who represent the indigent and has worked with the AOC over the years to improve the funding levels. These cases affect some of the most vulnerable components of our justice system, as a large percentage involve children and families. Often these attorneys take these cases to their own financial detriment, and in many situations, the low rates and caps combined with the volume of cases make it increasingly difficult to maintain a law practice. This dynamic especially affects lawyers in rural areas and has led to a crisis that is threatening our entire legal system in Tennessee."

"The TBA looks forward to working with the AOC, the Supreme Court, the Legislature and Governor Lee’s administration to create meaningful solutions to this problem.”

The state’s indigent defense system is at a “breaking point,” a story in the Tennessean suggests. With the lowest indigent defense reimbursement rate in the nation ($50 an hour for non-capital cases), the paper says the funding is “so paltry it amounts to a theft of services from attorneys, who are at regular risk of losing money when appointed to the cases.” The reimbursement rate has only been raised $20 in the last 42 years, despite widespread calls for increases and a 2017 task force recommendation to pay between $75 and $125 per hour. Attorneys and judges interviewed for the story say the low rate is “squeezing the state’s judicial system” leading judges to increasingly rely on less experienced lawyers to handle cases. But even that pool of willing attorneys appears to be shrinking, judges say. Dawn Deaner, former Nashville public defender and current executive director at the Choosing Justice Initiative, says the system is in the worse shape "it's ever been."

The Division of State Audit in the Office of the Comptroller of the Treasury is currently conducting a performance audit of the Court Systems Indigent Defense Procedures for assigning, compensating and reimbursing private attorneys. Attorneys practicing in Tennessee are invited to participate in a brief survey. The questions in the survey should be interpreted to refer to cases where attorneys are appointed to represent indigent clients under Tennessee Supreme Court Rules 13, 40 and 40A. Click here for more information.