Rich Zipperer, R-Pewaukee, wondered why legislators should put the SPD request ahead of other individuals looking for financial support from the state. While nine of the 11 committee members are attorneys and four are co-sponsors of the legislation, some questioned the $19 million annual cost at a time when the state is cash-strapped, as well as whether the increase should be a priority. Although it rose to $50 per hour during the early 1990s, the state Legislature brought it down to $40 per hour in 1995. The in-court hourly rate was originally set at $45 in 1978. The public hearing in front of the State Assembly’s Committee on Judiciary and Ethics is the furthest that any proposal to raise the rate to $70 per hour has gotten. “I’m not looking to get wealthy, but it would be nice to have a retirement fund and put my kid through school,” said Lucsay, who was one of several private attorneys and SPD staff members who testified in support of Assembly Bill 224 on June 2. With few private clients coming in her door due to the recession, Lucsay recently surrendered her downtown Madison office in order to afford daycare for her two-year-old son. She is a solo criminal defense lawyer who generates 90 percent of her business through private bar assignments from the Wisconsin State Public Defender’s Office (SPD), which compensates appointees at $40 per hour - one of the lowest rates in the nation. Lucsay does not drive a luxury car, work at a prestigious law firm or operate a lavish office.
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