The Jersey City Council examined nearly half a million dollars worth of contracts with their Office of the Municipal Public Defender and his deputies during yesterday’s caucus.
By Daniel Ulloa/Hudson County View
Chief Municipal Public Defender Andrew Abrams noted there was a contract for himself and his nine public defenders as resolutions on the agenda: The first $14,000 and the second for $468,500, both for entire calendar year of 2026.
Ward D Councilman Jake Ephros was curious about the contracts for part-time defenders.
“Everybody who serves as a public defender is on a per diem … $275 per session. As the Chief Public Defender … for me … is $14,000,” he clarified.
“How many municipal defenders do we have in total?” Ephros asked.
“It’s nine plus me is 10. I’m so happy to get a question … We’ve had as many as 17 or 18 in the past. We are done through unfortunate deaths, retirements, or people have moved on,” Abrams noted.
“The practice of a public defender has gotten exponentially more involving: The number of cases we’re handling is easily five times what we were handling pre-COVID … Because of that, a lot of people are steering away from the public defender’s practice.”
Abrams noted that practice is not lucrative and instead helping people that otherwise would not have legal representation.
“People who do it do it because they have a commitment to helping the people of the city: I’m actively searching for people all of the time,” he added.
“Do most NJ municipalities not have any in-house public defense?” Ephros continued.
Abrams answered that Jersey City has one of the largest municipal courts, competing with Newark and Camden.
“I believe we’re better than all of them. We have select courts here in Jersey City that address domestic violence… mental health… citizen complaints … My public defenders are called to serve in all those,” he further stated.
“Newark, for example … has a set employee, public defender service. Their budget is significantly more than ours. Their chief was making $120,000 a year compared to my 14 [thousand].”
He said the Newark public defenders program has a million-dollar budget for public defenders, while Jersey City spends a bit less than half of that.
“Every municipal court is different,” Abrams concluded, with Ephros then thanking him for his service.
Councilman at-Large Rolando Lavarro then asked how long Abrams has been the city’s chief public defender.
Abrams responded that he became Chief Public Defender in Jersey City under former Mayor Glenn Cunningham in 2002.
“I have survived every administration. And I’m appreciative … Every single person we help is a constituent who needs our service; we treat everybody as a private client,” Abrams reflected.
“Thank you for your service,” Lavarro stated.
Ward C Councilman Tom Zuppa, a former assistant Hudson County prosecutor, noted that he worked with Abrams’ father, who is also a lawyer, in the past.
The Jersey City Council will convene for their regular session tomorrow at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 280 Grove St., and the session will also stream live on Microsoft Teams.
