Mass advocacy

Here is a pointer to Professor Giacalone's very thoughtful and very thorough take-down of the protest by Massachusetts court-appointed private attorneys against the injustice of an 81% pay increase over two years.

A New Hampshire public defender comments on the Massachusetts situation here. I want to gather my thoughts further before determining whether I have anything worth adding to the discussion.

Update:
Other thoughts, on this situation in particular from Massachusetts, and on appointed counsel in general from Alabama.

Indefensible's David Feige addressed this last year on Slate:

For indigent criminal defendants, low-paying assigned-counsel systems like that in Massachusetts offer the worst of all possible worlds... The Romney administration should consider adopting a public defender system.