{Charleston, West Virginia}…Some court-appointed
lawyers trying to help West Virginia judges make good decisions for abused and
neglected children are earning wages that haven’t been raised since the 1980s.
While being paid $45 an hour for out-of-court work and $65 for in-court work,
some lawyers say it's basically charity work. Court officials agree and say
they'll propose legislation in February that would raise compensation to $75
and $90 an hour for attorneys paid through Public Defender Services. But the
bill has a $4.8 million price tag, so it faces challenges as legislators
grapple with a massive shortfall in Medicaid funding. According to May 2011
figures from the U.S. Bureau for Labor Statistics, the average hourly wage for
a lawyer is $62.74, about $17 more than the West
Virginia
