400 | Why the Lawyers Handling 80% of Massachusetts's Public Defender Cases Stopped Taking New Cases w/Shira Diner
400 | Why the Lawyers Handling 80% of Massachusetts's Public Defender Cases Stopped Taking New Cases w/Shira Diner  
Podcast: Public Defenseless
Published On: Wed Oct 01 2025
Description: Today, Hunter was joined by Professor Shira Diner to discuss the Bar Advocate work stoppage in the state of Massachusetts. Back in May, the Bar Advocates, the private defense lawyers who handle 80% of Massachusetts's public defender workload, stopped taking new cases due to the incredibly low hourly rate they are paid. Since then, thousands of people have been left without representation as the courts have been unable to assign cases to attorneys. Now the question is, where does the state go from here?   Guest: Shira Diner, Professor of Law, Boston University   Resources: News on Bar Advocates Here https://www.alaa.org/thealaaorganizer/massachusetts-defense-attorneys-enter-third-month-on-strike https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2025/0916/sixth-amendment-us-constitution-massachusetts-bar-strike https://www.wbur.org/news/2025/06/27/court-massachusetts-defense-strike-bar https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/bar-advocates-attorney-work-stoppage-pay-raise/ https://www.massbar.org/publications/ejournal/ejournal-article/lawyers-journal-2004-november/keep-it-going-delegates-urge-continued-momentum-on-bar-advocate-pay-issue- https://www.masslive.com/opinion/2025/07/bar-advocates-arent-striking-were-standing-for-justice-viewpoint.html https://www.wcvb.com/article/bar-advocate-strike-massachusetts-healey/65491317 Contact Shira https://www.bu.edu/law/profile/shira-m-diner/     Contact Hunter Parnell:                                 Publicdefenseless@gmail.com  Instagram @PublicDefenselessPodcast Twitter                                                                 @PDefenselessPod www.publicdefenseless.com  Subscribe to the Patreon www.patreon.com/PublicDefenselessPodcast  Donate on PayPal https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=5KW7WMJWEXTAJ Donate on Stripe https://donate.stripe.com/7sI01tb2v3dwaM8cMN Trying to find a specific part of an episode? Use this link to search transcripts of every episode of the show! https://app.reduct.video/o/eca54fbf9f/p/d543070e6a/share/c34e85194394723d4131/home