Attorneys working assignments under the federal will see their fees bumped up from $100 to $110 per hour, with funds recently appropriated by Congress.
The CJA was enacted in 1964 to establish a comprehensive system for appointing and compensating lawyers to represent defendants financially unable to retain counsel in federal criminal proceedings.
Federal defender organizations, together with the more than 10,000 private panel attorneys who accept CJA assignments annually, represent the vast majority of individuals who are prosecuted in the nation’s federal courts.
Nationwide, federal defenders receive approximately 58% of CJA appointments, and the remaining 42% are assigned to the CJA panel.
The new fee pays panel attorneys an hourly rate of $110 per hour in non-capital cases, and a maximum rate of $175 per hour for capital cases.
President Obama signed the new rate into law on March 11 for work performed on or after that date.
The American Bar Association had urged the Obama administration and Congress to support increases in the panel rates.
That’s good news for the lawyers. President Obama has been busy signing his plans into law.