It’s a packed courtroom. A judge is working through a long list of arraignments, with many defendants unable to afford an attorney. She looks toward a group of public defenders and begins to call them out by name, asking them to take on more cases.
Public defenders say scenes like this have become increasingly common as their caseloads grow. They say the pressure is one reason they’re urging voters to vote yes on Ballot Question 2, which would allow employees of the Committee for Public Counsel Services to unionize.
“Strong public defense is the thing that makes sure the system that holds people accountable is also a system that’s operating fairly,” said Tanvi Verma, a public defender. “Now that system can only exist if public defenders are treated well in terms of our working conditions, our caseloads and the way that we’re treated in court.”
A section of the Massachusetts General Laws outlines which state employees can collectively bargain, and includes nearly all other state workers except CPCS employees. Question 2 supporters say that exclusion was not intentional.
“From all my research, what I found is that it was not an intentional thing that CPCS was left off of this list,” Verma said. “And like any other, I guess, typo or error, we were trying to fix this issue of the statute legislatively for a very long time and it just wasn’t going anywhere.”
Public defenders say a union is needed now more than ever as they continue to feel the ripple effects of the bar advocate work stoppage. Private attorneys who handle 80% of court-appointed cases stopped taking on new clients last summer.
Although the work stoppage has ended, CPCS hired additional attorneys to handle the increased caseload while private attorneys were not taking on new cases.
“We’re so spread thin across the courts and our staff is so spread thin across attorneys,” Verma said. “We’re not able to keep up the quality of representation that they joined the agency to provide.”
The ballot question does not include bar advocates, but the Massachusetts Association of Private Appointed Counsel has endorsed Question 2.
“Anything that helps the public financing of indigent defense bar advocates feel is a good thing,” said Bar Advocate Roland Milliard.
There is no formal opposition to Question 2, and CPCS management has not commented on the ballot question. But researchers at the Tufts Center for State Policy Analysis found that unionization could put pressure on CPCS’s budget and potentially lead to fewer workers. They say that could result in increased reliance on private-sector attorneys.
“They might be able to bargain for better wages or smaller caseloads. And the question is, is that good for the people that they’re serving?” said Evan Horowitz, executive director of the Tufts Center for State Policy Analysis. “Is that good for the low-income folks who need lawyers if the lawyers we have are handling fewer cases?”
If Question 2 passes, public defenders said unionizing would improve retention by giving CPCS employees more security about their future with the agency. Employees said they often spend time training lawyers from top schools, only for them to leave after a few years.
“This ballot question would allow us to have a contract to be able to know what’s coming down the line in the future,” said Public Defender Danny Werner. “The same contract that everybody we work with in court, the court officers, the probation officers, the clerks, all of them enjoy.”
Public defenders say they take pride in ensuring everyone has a constitutional right to legal counsel, and they believe unionizing will help them keep experienced attorneys in the field.
“I have wanted this job forever, and I want to be able to do it forever,” Verma said. “I’ve seen so many attorneys just have to leave the work because of how demanding the lifestyle can be and how hard it can be. And so I don’t want us to continue losing these amazing advocates. I want all of us who work here to be able to stay here forever, and a union will make it more possible than it is right now.”
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