BillingGuidelinesAtt_A.doc

ATTACHMENT A

THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS

BILLING GUIDELINES

LAW FIRM RETAINER POLICY AND PROCEDURE

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts and outside counsel must cooperate to efficiently deliver the highest quality legal services without compromising the independence of the lawyer's professional judgment or attorney/client relationship. By accepting an assignment, your firm agrees to the following law firm policies and procedures. These guidelines apply to all law firms providing legal services to the Commonwealth regardless of the structure of the fee agreement.

FEES

Acceptable Fees

· Your firm must submit the names of attorneys and paralegals who will be performing work on the matter assigned and their respective billing rates prior to the performance of any work, except in emergency circumstances. In providing the billing rates the outside counsel shall represent that the rates reflect the lowest possible rates charged to any client of the firm.

· The Commonwealth will pay only those fees that reflect the highest and best use of the billing professional's time.

· The Commonwealth will pay only for the actual time spent completing a task, with the time rounded to the nearest tenth (.1) hour.

· Rate increases will be honored only if agreed upon by the Commonwealth in advance and in writing.

Unacceptable Fees Regardless of the structure of the fee arrangement, the Commonwealth will not pay any fees and/or expenses associated with the following:

· Preparation of bills and invoices;

· Preparation of responses to billing inquiries from any entity;

· Preparation of responses to requests from auditors for the Commonwealth;

· Preparation of digests (page/line summaries) of depositions other than when trial is imminent (digesting depositions is a paralegal function);

· On-line research in situations in which the Commonwealth legal on-line research tools are available to the outside attorneys or paralegals;

· Routine or elementary legal research, including issues considered to be common knowledge among reasonably experienced counsel in the local jurisdiction (e.g. basic procedural issues);

· Legal research and/or preparation of non-dispositive motions, which exceed 2 total hours, without prior consultation with the Commonwealth;

· Research or any other work initially prepared for other matters or files;

· More than one tenth (.1) of an hour for reviewing pre-printed or computer generated forms, documents, pleadings, notices, discovery, etc., and no fee for generating the same;

· Billing individual charges for documents such as Subpoenas Duces Tecum, served on multiple parties when only one notice or subpoena is prepared;

· Proofreading, editing mistakes, reworking, redrafting, and textual changes necessitated by substandard work product (edits/revisions in work is only billable if new information is obtained or if requested by the Commonwealth);

· Clerical work performed by fee-generating personnel or paralegal work performed by attorneys;

· Improper staffing assignments (e.g. partners and senior associates performing routine research, associates drafting chronologies, etc.) without prior consultation with the Commonwealth;

· Unapproved personnel billing on a matter (i.e., individuals not named by the firm as performing work on the matter) unless simply "filling in" due to unavoidable scheduling conflicts, (i.e., hearings, depositions, trials), vacations, illnesses or the like;

· Previously researched issues except for that portion of the research that updates the work product;

· Reviewing or analyzing conflicts issues;

· Time and/or expenses incurred due to change or departure of law firm resources;

· Continuing education/seminars;

· Employee courier services, law clerk "runners", or other personnel who perform functions such as delivering documents, checking court dockets, and filing papers;

· More than one attendee at a trial, hearing, court appearance, arbitration, mediation, deposition, third party meeting, conference call, or any similar event unless discussed in advance with the Commonwealth;

· Routine file review and learning time to get up to speed (even when "filling in" for personnel assigned to the file), or transfer file reviews;

· Staffing inefficiencies caused by the unavailability of the firm's personnel;

· Duplicate efforts caused by your staffing requirements;

· Routine summarization of medical records/discovery without regard to volume, complexity, stage of litigation, and/or necessity of the task;

· Inter-office or intra-office communications (oral or written), unless to take advantage of the experience of another attorney in the firm. (Inter-office or intra-office communications of a supervisory, educational, or administrative nature are not billable. If the communication is billable, only the most senior attendee's time, or the drafter of the communication, may bill time);

· Trial preparation when trial is not imminent;

· Time billed by summer associates;

· Work that could have been more cost effectively performed by Commonwealth personnel, unless discussed in advance with the Commonwealth;

· Scheduling or rescheduling depositions, hearings, and the like;

· Drafting subpoenas and summonses;

· Ordering reports;

· Training of personnel;

· Supervisory file review;

· Non-attorney/non-paralegal staff (e.g., library staff, file clerks);

· Secretarial work;

· Staff overtime;

· Word processing;

· Arranging travel/accommodations;

· Opening or closing files;

· Organizing files, organizing client files received from underlying cases, and/or indexing/collating documents produced in discovery unless discussed in advance with the Commonwealth;

· Document stamping (e.g., batestamping);

· Managing clerk time;

· Collating or copying;

· Velobinding; and

· Faxing or routine mailing costs.

EXPENSES

Premiums/Markups: The Commonwealth will pay only the actual costs for reasonable expenses without any premiums or markups.

Itemization: The Commonwealth requires expenses to be itemized by date incurred and by category (e.g., photocopy, travel, meals, long distance telephone, where authorized).

Detail: Each expense item must be adequately detailed so as to enable the Commonwealth to determine the exact nature, purpose, and necessity of the expense.

Payment: All routine expenses should be paid directly by the law firm and billed to the Commonwealth as disbursements.

· Actual or copies of receipts for expenses over $50 must be attached to your bill.

· Disbursements over $500 must be discussed in advance with the Commonwealth.

Overhead:

The Commonwealth will not pay any fees, charges, or expenses associated with law firm overhead expenses, including but not limited to the following:

· case management or litigation systems;

· overtime meals, transportation or other charges;

· rent;

· utilities;

· local phone charges;

· office supplies;

· computer equipment;

· books;

· publications/periodicals;

· equipment rental (except when necessary for trial presentation and approved by the Commonwealth in advance);

· software;

· seminars, or continuing legal education;

· conference rooms;

· refreshments during meetings;

· employee messenger service;

· incoming faxes;

· non-attorney/non-paralegal staff (e.g. library staff, mail clerks);

· inadequately described or miscellaneous expenses.

Telephone Charges: The Commonwealth will pay actual, necessary long distance phone call charges.

Postage: THE Commonwealth will not pay for postage or for certified or registered mail.

Fax: The Commonwealth will only pay the actual long distance telephone line charges for outgoing fax transmissions, where applicable. No per page or flat rate will be accepted.

Computerized Legal Research: The Commonwealth will not pay for computerized legal research unless discussed in advance.

Photocopies: Charges for photocopies will be reimbursed at the actual cost to the law firm, not to exceed $.10 per page. Law firms are expected to limit the making of photocopies and, wherever cost effective, use the resources of outside copying if less than $.10 per page. Bill entries for photocopies must provide the number of copies made, the per page rate, and the total billed amount. $.10 per page copy costs may be exceeded only when the firm cannot control cost (e.g., certified copies from the courthouse). Such copy costs should be separately noted in the law firm's bill.

Travel Expenses: The Commonwealth will pay for necessary and reasonable out of town travel expenses provided that the travel is discussed in advance with the Commonwealth and providing that:

· Each expense is separately identified (air fare, hotel, rental car, meals, etc.), with an amount and date incurred;

· Charged mileage does not exceed the current allowable Internal Revenue Service rate;

· Air travel is coach or economy rate and a copy of the airline voucher is submitted to the Commonwealth with the bill;

· Hotel accommodations are moderately priced and hotel receipts are submitted to the Commonwealth;

· Meal charges are reasonable. Reimbursement for meals will only be made in conjunction with out of town travel;

· Taxis or shuttles are used rather than rental cars wherever cost effective;

· Rented cars are intermediate class only and insurance coverage is not charged to the Commonwealth. Rental cars must be refueled prior to return to the rental agency.

Express Mail and Messenger Services: The Commonwealth will not pay for express mail, overnight delivery, outside courier or messenger services, unless requested by the Commonwealth, as a result of an emergency not of the law firm's making, or as a result of a request by the insured and if discussed in advance with the Commonwealth.

BILLING PROCEDURES

Frequency: All matters shall be invoiced on a quarterly basis (every three months from the date of receiving and opening the claims file) or whenever fees and expenses reach $5,000, whichever occurs first, unless the Commonwealth requests billing on another basis. However, bills of less than $350 should be submitted only yearly from the date of receiving and opening the matter. Bills must include the following information:

Format:

· Law firm name, address, and tax identification number;

· Date the bill is mailed;

· Name of the Commonwealth contact assigned to the matter;

· Matter or case name or description.

Each time entry billed must show:

· the date the service was performed;

· the actual time spent on the task (in tenths);

· the name or initials of the individual performing the services;

· the rate charged by the timekeeper;

· the cost of the service;

· the nature of the activity (description); and

· if requested by the Commonwealth, a task code from a list it supplies;

Multiple Activities: Where multiple activities are billed on a single day, each activity must be shown and charged separately. Time entries should be grouped only where the activity takes less than one tenth (.1) of an hour, and grouping is necessary to avoid minimum increment billing.

Generic Descriptions: Generic descriptions such are not acceptable for billing purposes, and include but not are not limited to:

· “attention to matter”

· “review case and issues”

· “conference with _______” without reflecting what was discussed

· “review correspondence”

· “telephone call with _____” without reflecting the subject of the call

· “work on discovery”

· “receive/review documents”

Adequate Description: Each activity must be adequately described. The use of generic descriptions such as "work on file,” "review correspondence.” "research,” "trial preparation,” etc., are unacceptable. The descriptions provided should be specific enough to allow a person unfamiliar with the case or billing attorney to determine what function is being performed, and the necessity of the function to the progress of the case. The addition of a "re" descriptor is usually necessary. Such detailed description is required of most work including, but not limited to:

· The identity of other participant(s), their titles (e.g., M.D.) and what was discussed in office and third-party communications (telephone calls, correspondence, meetings);

· The purpose of a court hearing/conference, and name(s) of attendees;

· The identity of each deponent/interviewee;

· The purpose of extensive review of transcripts (deposition or trial);

· The specific issue researched;

· The specific non-deposition discovery worked on and the nature of the work performed;

· The specific trial preparation performed;

· The specific motion worked on and the nature of the work performed;

· The identity of material/documents reviewed.

Summaries: Additionally, a summary setting forth the following information must be provided:

· Full name of all timekeepers who billed time during the billing period;

· The initials/identifiers used on the bill;

· Rank of each timekeeper (e.g., partner, associate, paralegal, etc.);

· Hourly rate of each timekeeper. If the rate changed during the billing period, the effective date of the rate change;

· Total hours billed by each timekeeper, and the total dollar amount charged;

· The cumulative total hours, fees, and expenses charged to date on the file;

· Disbursements.

Depositions: Whenever a law firm purchases a deposition transcript, it will maintain that transcript and make it available for at least two years after the file is closed.

Daily Hours: Legal charges exceeding 8 hours per day require detailed explanation.

Prior Consultation/Approval: Activities and expenses requiring prior consultation with or approval by the Commonwealth must be noted in the related task entry set forth in the bill by the law firm.

Additional Requirements: The Commonwealth reserves the right to require additional information with your invoices and/or that you reorganize the information currently requested. By way of example, the Commonwealth may require that you: (i) supply your invoices electronically (e.g., on disk or by modem, and in your format, or in a format specified by the Commonwealth); (ii) code your task entries; (iii) use specific billing software or a billing conversion process so it can be electronically analyzed; and (iv) assist in collecting other information from time to time or on an ongoing basis. By representing the Commonwealth you agree to comply with such requests, and to do so at your own expense.

STAFFING

Team Approach: The Commonwealth will assign the law firm personnel who will be authorized to work on and bill to each matter. Non-assigned personnel may not work on any matter without prior approval from the Commonwealth. Fees and expenses received as a result of work by non-assigned personnel will not be paid unless discussed in advance with the Commonwealth representative in charge of the relevant file. Generally, no more than one partner and/or one associate, and one paralegal will be authorized to work on a matter. Firms are expected to monitor the staffing needs of cases as they progress and to inform the Commonwealth if the case could be staffed more economically. The goal is to minimize the number of firm personnel necessary to handle the case effectively. The Commonwealth also expects law firms to review staffing assignments as necessary to ensure that tasks are assigned to staff at the appropriate level of expertise and billing rate.

COMPLIANCE

The Commonwealth will construe each statement for services as a representation by the firm that the attorney in charge of the matter has reviewed the statement and has determined that it accurately reflects work and expenses reasonably and necessarily incurred, is directly related to matters listed, and that the fees and charges reflected in the statement comply with these guidelines.

By submitting a statement for services rendered to the Commonwealth, the law firm certifies that it has completed a diligent and thorough review of its records and has determined that no actual or potential conflict of interest exists as between the Commonwealth and any of the law firm’s current or past clients that would interfere with the law firm’s full or unrestricted representation of the Commonwealth in the matter described in the statement for services. If such an actual or potential conflict of interest is later identified, the firm shall notify the Commonwealth of such conflict or potential conflict immediately.

The adverse impacts of an actual or potential conflict of interest are difficult to ascertain and the resulting damages to the Commonwealth are difficult to quantify. In the event that the law firm or the Commonwealth later identifies a conflict of interest that was not previously disclosed by the law firm, the Commonwealth may require that all or a portion of the fees paid in connection with this matter be refunded to the Commonwealth and the law firm shall promptly pay the Commonwealth the required amount. The Commonwealth also expects that, as a matter of course, the law firm will, without cost to the Commonwealth, do whatever may be reasonably required by the Commonwealth to ensure a timely and orderly transition of representation from the law firm to such replacement counsel as may be designated by the Commonwealth.

BILL REVIEW AND PAYMENT

Payment of any bill by the Commonwealth, at any time, does not constitute a waiver of the Commonwealth’s rights to subsequently question, dispute, obtain reimbursement of, compromise or request repayment or future credit, for any bill or invoice previously paid. The Commonwealth retains the right to audit all bills or files, which are or have been the subject matter of any billing. Such an audit will require the firm to produce any and all documentation, which would support the billing submitted, by the firm. The firm will produce any individual that has submitted billing on behalf of the firm, as well as any firm personnel who would have knowledge or information regarding any billing, and the firm shall produce such persons to answer any and all questions regarding the billings. Each firm subject to these guidelines acknowledges, without protest, that the Commonwealth may utilize either its own personnel or personnel from an outside auditing service to perform such audits.

� These guidelines apply to solo practioners also.