State Attorney Brian Kramer says starting salaries for assistant state attorneys and assistant public defenders are critically low, and he’s calling on the Florida Legislature to do something about it.  

Kramer is circulating to local media a letter to the editor describing a somewhat desperate situation: starting salaries of $50,000 for new lawyers who could make three times that much in the private sector. It’s the lowest starting salary of any lawyer, Kramer said.

“As one might reasonably expect, both the State Attorney and the Public Defender can’t compete, and it shows in our ability to hire and retain new lawyers,” Kramer wrote in the letter. “We are hiring and currently have no barred lawyers as applicants.” 

Kramer said his office employed 52 assistant state attorneys when he assumed his job five years ago, but that number has now declined to 42.  

“As State Attorney of the 8^th Judicial Circuit and an adjunct professor at the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law, I have the opportunity to meet many talented students about to start their legal careers,” Kramer wrote. “There are very few seeking employment in the public sector.” 

The letter comes on the heels of a pitch he and Public Defender Stacy Scott made to the Alachua County Legislative Delegation last week during the annual meeting at Santa Fe College. The two are calling on lawmakers to increase the minimum salary for assistant defenders and assistant state attorneys to $75,000 per year.  

In his letter, Kramer credited Florida lawmakers for increasing starting salaries during the last two legislative sessions.  

“Both the Florida Prosecuting Attorney’s Association and the Florida Public Defender’s Association are thankful for the legislature’s financial help, and it has helped,” Kramer wrote. “Our attrition rates have decreased; however, they have decreased from about 30% per year to 25% per year.” 

Kramer said it takes three to five years to fully train an assistant state attorney or assistant public defender, and, on average, every position in his office is turning over every four years.  

“We still need help,” Kramer wrote, reiterating his call for a $75,000 minimum.  

Kramer acknowledged that, while the higher minimum would help, it is unlikely to fully solve the problem.  

“While pay for ASAs and APDs could and should be more competitive, it will never compete with the private sector,” Kramer wrote. “Public service is a calling, and it is a calling that has a price. That price is a lower salary than our private lawyer counterparts. What we have, that they will never know, is the satisfaction of knowing that we spend our careers ensuring the safety and welfare of our community.”