INDIANAPOLIS (WISH-TV) — The Marion County Public Defender Agency voted to unionize, citing low pay and heavy work load.

A lawyer in the agency told I-Team 8 it’s not only the lawyers who are underpaid, it’s the rest of the office as well.

“Our support staff is woefully underpaid,” said Lucy Frick, an attorney with 9 years of experience as public defender. “We have, overall, really good management, so that’s not the thrust of this union drive. It’s simply that we’re overworked and underpaid.”

During the pandemic, Frick said her case load was around 70 cases. It’s gotten slightly better since then, but she still works on roughly 45 cases at a time, all while getting paid a fraction of what lawyers in the private sector do.

“I’m at the higher end since I’m one of our major felony attorneys, and I’m at $83,000 gross, whereas my counterpart in the private sector probably makes easily $120,000. Double that wouldn’t surprise me,” said Frick.

The Indiana Public Defender Commission said pay in Marion County in 2023 is 10% below what public defenders in other counties get paid.

“It’s the largest public defense agency, and it is arguably one of the poorest paid,” said Andrew Cullen with the Indiana Public Defender Commission.

“If there is higher pay, better conditions that helps recruiting, which helps get more qualified attorney’s into the office, which helps serve the public good,” asked I-Team 8 Reporter Kody Fisher.

“Absolutely,” Cullen said. “This is really all about having a fair and just system that Hoosiers can be proud of and improving the salaries for attorney’s is a huge part of that.”

Frick said the move is all about the people they serve.

“We are really committed to this work and so that’s why we’re unionizing,” Frick said. “We want to make this job sustainable.”

According to Frick, it could take 6 months to a year for the agency to negotiate its first union contract to fix these issues.