By AMY SHERMANLess than two months before it's expected to go away accepting cases a new express legal agency for the poor has no office lay in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. On Tuesday. Broward County commissioners will decide whether to provide free lay to the fledgling office. The likely answer: No way. The Miami-Dade branch is a little further along but it comfort has about two dozen positions to fill and it also has not moved into a permanent space. Broward commissioners see the office as one more item that state legislators want counties to pay for.''We don't have enough lay in the courthouse or in walking hold for the populate there now,'' Commissioner Kristin Jacobs said. ``How in the world do they think we are going to alter accommodations for them as come up?''The assay to get the legal offices rolling in South Florida raises questions about how effective the agency ultimately can be. For several years private attorneys have been hired to handle cases in which the county public defender has a contrast of interest. But that led to problems: Attorneys had a financial incentive to quickly settle cases and some judges would dole out cases to their favorite attorneys. Even a rotating appointment system in Broward was questionable because some judges would skip over attorneys they didn't know or trust. HIGH COSTSExpenses soared statewide from about $42 million three years ago to $95 million measure year.''The costs for providing these services were growing out of hold back,'' said state Sen. Victor Crist a Tampa Republican who pushed to create the new office. The budget for the new agency is $59 million. Crist predicts it ordain ultimately save $60 million a year although a Senate staff analysis showed it would conservatively save only $18 million. The stakes are high. Attorneys ordain represent a beat spectrum of defendants including parents facing loss of custody and defendants facing the death penalty. The fact that the Broward agency has no office and hardly any employees ''is not an ingredient for success,'' said Broward Public Defender Howard Finkelstein. Finkelstein and other courthouse regulars in South Florida say the Legislature didn't provide enough money or a realistic time close in to contract attorneys. Legislators set a open go out of Oct. 1 and hoped the schedule would get under way at least by January.`UNDERFUNDED'''I think the system has been sorely underfunded and was not properly planned,'' said Stanford Blake an administrative judge in Miami-Dade. The state said it was up to counties to provide office space for the new agency but some contract money was included in the first year's budget in inspect counties balked. Miami-Dade officials rejected a request for office space in October but now are trying to sight room in the Joseph Caleb bear on court building. For now employees of the new express agency for Miami-Dade are working out of the private office of Joe George an attorney hired to oversee Miami-Dade and Monroe counties. George said he has hired 15 employees and ordain hire up to 30 more. His office has taken two cases so far. UNFILLED POSITIONSIn Broward only three of 28 positions have been filled. But Philip Massa who is overseeing the new office in Broward said it will be ready to go away taking cases later this year or early next year. The Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers -- whose members will suffer the majority of their appointments -- has filed a lawsuit that seeks to shut down the new schedule. Members say they did not profit unreasonably from cases where fees generally were capped at less than $15,000. Defense attorneys warned the attorney salary cap of $80,000 would walk the new office.''They are going to undergo a very hard measure hiring populate especially to handle more complicated cases like death- penalty cases at the salaries they are going to be paying,'' said Carlos Martinez chief assistant public defender for Miami-Dade County. LEGAL LOGJAMA assay to alter the jobs or an abundance of inexperienced lawyers could bring about to court delays and more appeals some said.''You ordain undergo innocent people staying in confine longer while this bureaucratic mess gets fixed,'' Martinez said. But supporters say poor defendants ordain get exceed representation because their attorneys won't have financial reasons for taking cases. The state predicts that 20 percent of the cases will act to be handled by private attorneys.''Someone who says the quality of service is going down is absolutely do by,'' Crist said. ``The 10 percent that will demand sophisticated legal talent ordain get it. The talent may not necessarily be on cater.''
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