R.I. Public Defender Collin Geiselman is accustomed to attorneys on his staff leaving to take higher-paying positions at private law firms, but now he’s got a new concern as he grapples with staffing shortages: attorneys choosing to apply for other public agencies.
Geiselman says one attorney recently resigned from the R.I. Office of the Public Defender to apply for a position with the R.I. Office of the Attorney General. The employee told him
they could make almost $10,000 more annually doing a similar job at the AG’s office.
For years, it’s been common for young lawyers interested in public service to apply to entry-level openings in both the public defender’s office and attorney general’s offices, Geiselman says.
That’s not happening as much since Attorney General Peter F. Neronha successfully lobbied the General Assembly to boost salaries last year so that the difference in average salaries for front-line attorneys climbed to $18,000 higher for those working for the attorney general. And it’s made persistent staffing problems even more difficult to solve, Geiselman says.
“Lawyers don’t come to our office or the attorney general’s for riches,” he said. “I agree with [Neronha] when [he] says he needs more lawyers who are paid more … but we do, too.”
The public defender’s office plays a crucial role in the state’s court system, representing adults and children who can’t afford a lawyer but have been charged with crimes or those facing the loss of child custody to the state.
Gieselman says his office has dealt with severe staffing shortages, causing the remaining public defenders to take on far too many cases for years. According to a 2017 study, the public defender’s office had 49 attorneys, but it needed 136 full-time attorneys to provide the minimum level needed for the approximately 15,000 new cases assigned each year.
In recent years, there have been improvements as the General Assembly has added positions to the budget of the public defender’s office. But, while this is helpful, Geiselman says these positions are becoming increasingly difficult to fill without salary increases.
Geiselman and Matthew Toro, deputy public defender, say they submitted a budget proposal to Gov. Daniel J. McKee with $600,000 allotted for wage increases to close the average salary gap between the attorney general’s and public defender’s office.
McKee did not include the request in his proposed fiscal year 2025 budget. Under the proposal, the public defender’s office would receive $15.9 million for fiscal 2025, up from $15.8 million enacted last year. Now Geiselman is turning to the General Assembly for help.
In the meantime, the public defender continues to grapple with staffing shortages. Toro recalls a time when his department would receive 30 to 40 job applications for entry-level positions. Last summer, only 10 applied, most of them law students who wouldn’t be able to start for months. Toro says the staffing problems were the worst he’s seen in his 25 years in the office.
The public defender’s office was down nine out of 54 lawyers and was unable to staff all the courtrooms in the state, causing the office to pull lawyers away from District Courts in Washington and Newport counties.
“This isn’t a service we can just stop providing,” Toro said. “But if we don’t have the bodies to actually fill the courtrooms, we are absolutely incapable of providing those services.”
To help manage these shortages, the state Supreme Court agreed to pay for court-appointed lawyers and assembled a group of attorneys who were also able to be present in the courtrooms. Court-appointed lawyers are attorneys who voluntarily place themselves on a list for judges to draw from when someone can’t afford their own attorney and the public defender’s office has a conflict of interest.
But the list of court-appointed lawyers has also been dwindling as attorneys have to take time away from their private practice to take on cases for little pay.
Kara Hoopis Manosh, president of the Rhode Island Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, says she had to step off multiple lists in fall 2022 as her caseload reached more than 100 from both her own practice and court-appointed cases.
“I love court-appointed clients. It was not an easy decision,” Hoopis Manosh said. “It was still only better for the representation of the people that I had to stop the flooding that was coming in.”
Hoopis Manosh says public defender staffing shortages are not unique, as several other states have been dealing with far worse. To address the issue in Rhode Island, state Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul A. Suttell in November ordered the creation of a Court Appointed Review Committee to develop recommendations by June 30 to improve the situation.
The committee includes Geiselman and Hoopis Manosh, as well as representatives from the various courts and state legal community.
“I don’t think you can overstate how important it is to have not just warm bodies on the [list of lawyers available to be appointed by the court] but diligent, zealous, effective attorneys who are experienced and willing to litigate on behalf of the indigent accused,” Hoopis Manosh said. “Fortunately, we do have a judiciary that cares very much about the quality of representation for the indigent and is doing something about it before it gets critical.”
Though the public defender’s office was eventually able to fill the nine vacant positions from last summer, Geiselman and Toro say the cycle of attrition has started again. At least another four attorneys announced their departure in recent weeks, with most citing low pay and high caseloads as the reason for leaving.
What remains is the need for legal representation for those who can’t afford it.
“Clients become disenfranchised when there’s not enough staff to handle the cases. It creates problems for everyone across the board, “ Geiselman said. “We’re really looking for assistance.”
