BOSTON — They say it’s not a step they take lightly, but a group of contracted public defenders have declared they won’t take new clients until they see a pay raise.

According to a group of bar advocates gathered at the State House on Tuesday, they haven’t seen a real pay increase in so long that surrounding states now pay about double when compared to the Bay State for constitutionally mandated legal services.

As a consequence, bar advocates — private lawyers contracted to provide legal service to indigent clients — say they will stop taking new clients until the situation is rectified.

“Because bar advocates are grossly underpaid, there are not enough of them to cover all of the courts in Massachusetts. Bar advocates have left in droves to work in border states or to do different work altogether. There are fewer and fewer new skilled attorneys who can afford to or are willing to do bar advocate work,” Lowell-based bar advocate Jennifer O’Brien said.

The advocates say that they are paid only $65 per hour for providing legal services to needy clients. Similar work done in Rhode Island earns an attorney $112 an hour, while it’s $125 per hour in New Hampshire and $150 per hour in Maine. New York state had been paying its bar advocates about $75 per hour, but upped the rate to $158 per hour in 2023.

This is not the first time Bay State bar advocates have felt the need to begin a work stoppage over pay. The same concerns caused a similar reaction in 2004, after attorneys had gone two decades without seeing a rate increase. After years of averaging an about 71-cent hike per year, advocates say they need more than a token pay bump in order to keep doing their jobs.

“We’re looking for a fair rate,” attorney Elyse Hershon said.

According to advocates, the work they do isn’t just important to the people they represent, the state is required under the law to provide it. Not paying attorneys enough for their efforts, especially considering the high costs of doing legal work, just means that lawyers will choose to go elsewhere.

“We pay our own health insurance, we pay our malpractice insurance — which is required here — we pay for our offices, we pay self employment tax, we pay for office supplies,” Hershon said. “There is a lot and it really cuts down on that $65 per hour.”

“We don’t do this work for the money, but we do need to be paid a fair rate,” she added.

The bar advocates stressed no currently assigned cases will be impacted by their work stoppage decision, while adding it’s not something they undertake without full awareness of the potential ramifications. People without counsel, they said, could see their cases delayed or even dismissed. They said a majority of the about 2,600 bar advocates were joining in the stoppage.

“This is not an action that we take lightly, this is not something we enjoy to do,” attorney Jamal Aruri said.

He didn’t mince words about who needs to fix the problem: the lawmakers who are currently working on the next fiscal year’s budget.

“But, recently, the Legislature just essentially ignored us,” he said.

The House budget contained no pay raises, he said. The Senate budget passed last week, he said, contains a “meager” increase for just some bar advocates, but not the “vast majority” who take cases at the District Court level. It’s just not enough, he said, hence the work stoppage.

“We really had no other option,” Aruri said.

Anthony Benedetti, chief counsel at the Committee for Public Counsel Services — the organization which assigns advocates to their cases — said they stand behind their colleagues’ push for fair pay.

“We support our private attorneys and agree that they should be paid more for the essential work they do,” he said in a statement. “These lawyers provide critical representation to people at some of the most difficult moments of their lives. Their commitment is a cornerstone of public defense in Massachusetts.”

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