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Hi I am writing to you on behalf of The Well Connection UK, a media and publishing company. We could easily get virginia.gov featured in various publications such as magazines, online blogs and news sites. This would undoubtedly help virginia.gov with publicity, reputation, domain authority and organic search engine rankings. We have a wide range of options including completely free collaborations, sponsored posts, guest posts and banner ads. If this sounds of interest, please reach out to the senior business development manager, Anita at info@thewellconnection.co.uk and whatsapp +447395206515 (GMT) Kind regards Clifton Junior Outreach Assistant

Alexandria is a vibrant city based on history, culture, a waterfront and lots of tourism. If Virginia has money and space to build an arena then you have money and space to build new schools. Our school system is deplorable. It’s overcrowded. Think of your citizens before thinking about your quick money grab that eventually leads to an inevitable loss. We don’t want or need an arena. This is pure greed.

I heartily endorse the well-reasoned comments submitted by my colleague, Cassie Hargrave, Esquire. The miserly amounts paid by our state for professional legal advice & representation of indigents reflect poorly on the dignity of the Commonwealth. Our legislature can and should enact this bill, which will help close a gap of fair compensation that has been too long in place.

Court-appointed attorneys in the Commonwealth of Virginia have not had an increase in pay in more than TWENTY YEARS. Meanwhile, the cost of living has increased astronomically, and the Commonwealth of Virginia increases minimum wage every year. Other states around the country have recognized a need to appropriately compensate their court-appointed attorneys. As a court-appointed attorney for the last 16 years, I can report that from the view in the trenches, it is a precarious situation. Very talented attorneys are leaving the court-appointed attorney lists in droves, not because they cannot do the work, but simply because they cannot afford to not be paid for the hard work that they do. Imagine being a court-appointed attorney and appearing in court for FIVE FULL DAYS on an appeal, only to be paid $158.00 TOTAL. (And this doesn't include the actual preparation it takes outside of court to try the case). This is happening in Virginia. Imagine being a court-appointed attorney that is making LESS THAN MINIMUM WAGE, yet having to pay your support staff a minimum wage that increases every year. This is happening in Virginia. Imagine being a resident of the Commonwealth of Virginia, whose children have been (often times, unjustly) taken and placed into foster care, and you do not even have an attorney appointed to you (which is your RIGHT under the law) because there are no attorneys willing to do this amount of work for free. This is happening in Virginia. Imagine being a judge who is trying to enforce a litigant's right to counsel, but you cannot find a single attorney to represent the litigant because all of the court-appointed attorneys have quit. This is happening in Virginia. And lastly, imagine being a child who wants to (and should be) home with your parents, but your parents do not have quality representation because all of the qualified attorneys have quit, and your parent's rights are terminated and you never see them again. THIS IS HAPPENING IN VIRGINIA. This is not sustainable. The court cannot run without court-appointed attorneys. If the rate of pay for court-appointed attorneys is not increased, the court system is going to implode. There is no easier way to say it. This is not just about court-appointed attorneys. It is about parents, children, and families, and how much those people really matter to the Commonwealth of Virginia. Please do right by the citizens of Virginia, and the court-appointed attorneys who are working tirelessly to represent them and support this bill. It is time. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

I would like for the committee to consider the the bill on the table today. So many individuals incarcerated are far removed from the people they were 10, 5 ,20 years ago.

Hello, I am M. Lee Smallwood, II, the co-chair of the Legislative Committee for the Virginia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. I also participated in the study process that resulted in the JLARC study that provides the factual support for this bill. While I am not a court appointed attorney, I am a public defender and am therefore acutely aware of the circumstances that exist. The compensation offered for the typical court appointed case is insufficient to attract appropriate levels of experienced and talented criminal defense attorneys who can assist the indigent with defending themselves in vindication of their constitutional rights. Locally I practice in Danville and keep track of the circumstances throughout Southside Virginia. Our court appointed lists are short, and our judges have been actively recruiting members of the Bar and even appointing cases to attorneys who are not on the court appointed list. The latter practice is problematic because the Indigent Defense Commission has no oversight of persons who are not on the court appointed list pursuant to the statutory process. Our founders fervently believed that our criminal justice system required the ability for a person accused to vigorously defend himself, and it is for that reason that Gideon recognized the requirement for states to provide legal assistance to those who cannot afford it. We have certainly become a more enlightened society in the time since that decision, and we must keep the defense provided to all persons vigorous by adjusting the very low compensation levels provided in Virginia. The exact dollar amounts vary from this bill to SB356, but the most important issue is providing for an increase in the ballpark of the figures in either bill.