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"A horrible embarrassment to the profession"

By Steve

The Washington Post writes here on the funny thing that might happen because court-appointed lawyers in Virginia are too slack to apply for all that cap-waiver money: it will disappear.

It says in part:

"The General Assembly established the fund so Virginia could shed its label as the country's lowest-paying state for criminal defense lawyers. In the eight months since the fund was established, defense lawyers statewide have claimed about $640,000, or 8 percent, of the money.

The lack of interest is baffling defense advocates, who argued for decades that the money was needed to ensure that poor defendants get the same quality defense as those who can afford a lawyer."

Full post as published by Southwest Virginia Law Blog on March 22, 2008 (boomark / email).