A bar advocate holds up a sign demanding a pay raise during a rally on the State House’s Grand Staircase on July 31.

Following a work stoppage in May, bar advocates are getting a pay raise--but it is not as high as they requested.

Many bar advocates, a group that has accounted for as much as 80% of the public defense work in Massachusetts courts, have said the $20-an-hour raise is inadequate.

A group of advocates gathered at the State House Thursday to protest the deal, which they say, was constructed in a back room ...

The agreement struck Wednesday "balances sustainable rate increases for private bar advocates with continuing fiscal and ...

Dozens more defendants faced with criminal charges in the Bay State saw their legal woes disappear on Tuesday when the courts ...

This story was updated at 8:50 p.m. July 30, 2025, to add a Lowell district judge’s order to pay three bar advocates $100 an hour to represent three defendants. Private defense attorneys in ...

The spending plan lawmakers sent to Healey on Thursday "addresses timely issues through key, targeted investments," state ...

Twenty-five more cases were dismissed Tuesday, while bar advocates said the 30 percent raise over two years is "ridiculous." ...

So-called "bar advocates"  — private attorneys who take on the criminal cases of indigent defendants — have stopped accepting new cases for more than two months as they seek higher hourly rates.

The work stoppage has resulted in more than 100 cases being dismissed, in some instances allowing people charged with violent ...

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey signed into law a raise for striking bar advocates, but movement leaders say it’s not enough.