Amendment ID: S21-1

Amendment 1

CPCS Children and Family Law Division Appointed Private Counsel

Mr. Brownsberger, Ms. Creem and Mr. Joyce move to amend the amendment by adding the following new section:-

SECTION X.  Notwithstanding section 11 of chapter 211D of the General Laws, for fiscal year 2015, the chief counsel of the committee for public counsel services may waive the billable hours cap for private counsel appointed or assigned to cases undertaken by the children and family law division within the committee; provided, that the chief counsel finds that: (i) there is limited availability of qualified counsel in that practice area; (ii) requirements for expertise rendering assignment to certain service providers would be more cost effective, or (iii) demonstrated efficiency of the service provider shows that shifting the service to other providers will reduce the quality and increase the cost of the service; provided further, that counsel appointed or assigned to such cases within the private counsel division shall not be paid for any time billed in excess of 1800 billable hours.  It shall be the responsibility of private counsel to manage their billable hours.