No Changes to Lawyer Pay

West Virginia won’t be cutting court-appointed attorneys’ compensation after all. The Charleston Gazette reports that Dana Eddy, executive director of Public Defender Services, has rescinded “emergency guidelines” that would have cut court-appointed lawyers’ pay for travel time from $45 an hour to $20. Time spent waiting in court also would have been more narrowly defined. The cuts had been scheduled to take effect this week. Eddy said the revisions are being revoked because of a supplemental appropriation submitted to the Legislature.