Legal Research

A Miami judge has ruled that the 11th circuit public defender's office can stop taking new third-degree felony cases.  The ability of public defenders in the 11th circuit to comply with the Florida Rules of Professional Conduct and to provide counsel to those unable to afford private counsel is in jeopardy because of the size of each assistant public defender's case load.  Case loads for the public defenders, whose salaries seem permanently stuck at $42,000 a year, are rising, and funding is inadequate to hire more attorneys.  See the article in The Florida Bar News.