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

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 ...

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

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

Massachusetts courts may soon reopen after a months-long strike, but lawyers criticize the proposed deal, citing insufficient ...

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 ...

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.

We’re going nowhere,” one of the lawyers, known as bar advocates, said during a demonstration at the State House.

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.