Whenever the public counsel division of the Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS) is unable to provide counsel to an indigent criminal defendant in Hampden County and the Hampden County Bar Advocates, Inc. (HCBA) fails to provide an attorney who will accept the assignment, judges in the arraignment sessions of the Superior and District Courts of Hampden County may assign counsel from lists, created in cooperation with the Regional Administrative Justice of the Superior Court for the western region. It is expected that the lists will include lawyers who are willing to accept assignments and who are determined to be competent for the matters to which they may be assigned. The lists should be managed pursuant to SJC Rule 1:07, as amended, 431 Mass. 1301 (2000). Because the assignments will not be made pursuant to the contract between the HCBA, and the CPCS, the 800 hour annual limit and the 10 hour daily limit set by the CPCS for bar advocates will not apply. The Committee is hereby ordered to compensate lawyers so assigned at the hourly rates approved by the Legislature. See Lavallee v. Justices of the Hampden Superior Court, 442 Mass. 228, 248 n. 18 (2004).

Judges also have authority to assign cases to attorneys pursuant to SJC Rule 3:07, Mass. Rules of Professional Conduct, Rule 6.2. Attorneys who executed contracts with the Hampden County Bar Advocates, Inc., (HCBA) may be assigned to "day duty" pending an inquiry into the status of the contract between the Committee and HCBA and the contracts between the individual attorneys and HCBA. I will be available on short notice to review assignment orders that attorneys wish to challenge.

Justice Peter Velis shall continue to preside over status hearings.

By the Court,

Francis X. Spina

Associate Justice