Standard:

The legal representation plan shall require that the defense attorney or office maintain a case-reporting and management information system which includes number and type of cases, attorney hours and disposition. This information shall be provided regularly to the Contracting Authority and shall also be made available to the Office of the Administrator of the Courts. Any such system shall be maintained independently from client files so as to disclose no privileged information.

A standardized voucher form shall be used by assigned counsel attorneys seeking payment upon completion of a case. For attorneys under contract, payment should be made monthly, or at times agreed to by the parties, without regard to the number of cases closed in the period.

Related Standards:

American Bar Association, Standards for Criminal Justice, 5-3.3. (b) xii, The Report to the Criminal Justice Section Council from the Criminal Justice Standards Committee, 1989.

National Legal Aid and Defender Association, Guidelines for Negotiating and Awarding Indigent Defense Contracts, 1984 Standard III-22.

National Study Commission on Defense Services, Guidelines for Legal Defense Systems in the United States, 1976, Guideline 3.4, 4.1, and 5.2.

Commentary:

The ABA Standards for Providing Defense Services call for all contracts to provide for an appropriate system of case management and reporting. Unfortunately, the 1989 report to the legislature on defense services in Washington found that in many jurisdictions, there is no management information system in place for collecting and maintaining reliable data on costs, caseloads, and attorney activity.

Contracting authorities have an obligation to the public to show how its funds are being spent. Without standardized reports of attorney activities and uniform requests for payment, government has no way to review defense expenditures or to anticipate future costs. The attorneys under contract cannot be held accountable for their work if the oversight agency has no record of what has been done.

The maintenance of records of hours spent on a case, the costs incurred, and the amounts billed are standard business practices in the legal field. Defense attorneys receiving public funds likewise have a responsibility to maintain professional records and to be accountable to the funding agency.

Some attorneys may protest that keeping accurate time records will only take time away from clients; but these records can be of great value to the lawyer who wants to document caseload levels or present an argument for adequate funds. Defense attorneys may also be better able to anticipate workloads if they are able to calculate the average amount of time spent on a particular class of case. Case management and accounting functions are a part of any well-run legal practice.

The specification of regular payments to attorneys under contract is meant to assure them a steady income flow so they can meet regular and necessary business expenses. It is not intended to prohibit a payment system or schedule which reasonably assures the contracting authority that the conditions of the contract, which may include acceptance of a specific number of cases in a given time period, are being met.