Gov’s public defender proposal debated across state
Bar advocates turned to local media outlets yesterday as they geared up to fight Gov. Deval L. Patrick’s plan to overhaul the Committee for Public Counsel Services system and replace the private...
View ArticleCPCS seeks to fill vacancies in March
The Supreme Judicial Court is inviting nominations and applications for appointments to the Committee for Public Counsel Services. Several vacancies will occur in March due to the expiration of the...
View ArticlePatrick’s radical attack on CPCS a fast-track to disaster
The page 1 story in the Feb. 7 issue, “Governor fast-tracks radical overhaul of CPCS,” is disturbing. Former Committee for Public Counsel Services Chief Counsel William J. Leahy summed up matters well...
View ArticleThe CPCS debate: a forensic expert’s perspective
As a longtime supporter of the Committee for Public Counsel Services and the rights of indigent defendants, I read the Feb. 7 page one story on the governor’s plans to dissolve CPCS and eliminate the...
View ArticleKeep CPCS as the model for the nation
The Legislature should reject Gov. Deval L. Patrick’s proposal to radically restructure the Committee for Public Counsel Services. The plan calls for the dismantling of the public-private partnership...
View ArticleBar advocate reform: any benefits to outweigh costs?
As the battle rages on to balance next year’s budget, so does the fight to save the Massachusetts bar advocate program, long recognized as one of the best in the country. Earlier this year, Gov. Deval...
View ArticleLawyers say state’s bar advocate hiring process opaque, unfair
Two lawyers who represent indigent defendants are gladly biting the hand that feeds them. Fall River attorney George P. van Duinwyk and Joseph F. Rosa of Assonet have filed suit in Bristol Superior...
View ArticleJudges – Spouse – CPCS attorney
Where a judge’s spouse is a staff attorney in the Appeals Unit of the Committee for Public Counsel Services and the judge has asked if there is an obligation to inform members of the Appeals Court who...
View ArticleLabor – CPCS
Where a union filed a petition seeking to form a bargaining unit of lawyers and administrative staff employed by the Committee for Public Counsel Services, the petition must be dismissed for lack of...
View ArticleAttorneys – Drug court – CPCS
Where a judge removed Committee for Public Counsel Services attorneys from Lowell drug court cases to which they had been assigned and excluded CPCS attorneys from assignment to any new case in the...
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