Volume 15, February 2009 |
Legal Aid Ontario's Lawyer Services & Payments Department (LSP) is happy to bring you this monthly Better Billing Bulletin. It's meant to provide you and your staff with information regarding tariff and billing practices. We hope you'll find it useful.
Improvements to responding to your correspondence
Beginning April 1, we commit to responding to your correspondence within 5 business days. You will receive an acknowledgement letter which will outline the process we will follow to deal with your correspondence, including timelines for a resolution whenever possible.
Dockets, dockets, dockets!!
Your dockets must contain sufficient detail to allow LAO to determine what work was done on the date docketed. In addition to being a best practice, detailed dockets are necessary for fiscal and client accountability. Below you'll find a sample detailed docket for civil and criminal accounts. Failure to provide dockets with sufficient detail results in slower processing and payment of your accounts. Please ensure dockets are detailed.
Civil Sample Docket
| 2009-02-05 | Meet with client George Smith to prepare motion for interim support | 4800006 | 3:30pm | 4:55pm | 1.4 | 108.58 |
| 2009-02-05 | Draft financial statements, Notice of Motion, affidavit | 4800006 | 4:55pm | 6:00pm | 1.1 | 85.32 |
| 2009-03-04 | Prepare motion record | 4800006 | 3:30pm | 4:00pm | 0.5 | 38.78 |
| 2009-03-19 | Prepare for motion | 4800006 | 8:15am | 9:05am | 0.8 | 62.05 |
| 2009-03-20 | Attend 225 Jarvis court before Justice Harry for motion | 4800006 | 9:30am | 10:30am | 1.0 | 77.56 |
| 2009-03-20 | Prepare draft order | 4800006 | 2:00pm | 2:35pm | 0.6 | 46.54 |
Criminal Sample Docket
| 2008-07-21 | Review of audio-tapes of witness Smith Smith. | 4800006 | 9:00am - 1:00pm | 12:00pm - 7:00pm | 9.0 | 872.55 |
| 2008-08-11 | Visit scene at 000 Jarvis St. | 4800006 | 1:00pm | 3:00pm | 2.0 | 193.90 |
| 2008-08-12 | Attend Don Jail to visit client. | 4800006 | 12:50pm | 2:10pm | 1.3 | 126.04 |
| 2008-08-13 | Review case law regarding arrest. Prepare submissions. |
4800006 | 12:00pm | 5:00pm | 5.0 | 484.75 |
| 2008-08-14 | Attend 225 Jarvis Court before Justice Harry for preliminary inquiry. Crown J. Joe calls 1 witness, client discharged. |
4800006 | 9:00am | 11:00am | 2.0 | 193.90 |
Hard Cap - Annual Billing Limit
It's the time of year when some of you hit your hardcap. Requests for hard cap exemptions are considered by LAO's President Bob Ward and are granted only in exceptional circumstances. See Tariff and Billing Handbook for further details or contact Michael Bury, Acting Manager Lawyer Services & Payments for more information. burym@lao.on.ca
Tariff & Billing Handbook
Consult our Handbook regularly for billing information.
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