General Questions

2012 Legislative Changes Affecting Attorney Bill Payment Policies

CPCS policies and procedures manual is (1) viewable on the this Web site (2) downloadable from this Web site.

The following is a partial list of billing rules that you need to be aware of. This is only a partial list, please refer to the manual for a complete list.

Attorney billing errors: We are unable to make adjustments on paid attorneys bills that were submitted with errors, however inadvertent. Please be careful in submitting correct and accurate bills to avoid possible payment reductions.

1 hour waiting time: An attorney cannot bill for more than 1 hour waiting time, all cases combined, for any given date- no exceptions will be made.

Saturday/Sunday hours: An attorney cannot bill for in-court time or waiting time for services performed on Saturdays and/or Sundays, unless the attorney can prove by the dockets entries that the court was in fact open.

Daily hour limit: An attorney cannot exceed the daily hour limit for all cases combined, unless s/he has an approved waiver (see below.) The only exception is services rendered on murder cases or dates the attorney is on trial. See Manual  c. V s. 19 for details.

Daily hour waiver request:An attorney must complete and submit a waiver request preferably on the day after the attorney's work actually exceeds the daily hour limit.  See Manual  c. V s. 19 for details.

Payment Department Directory: (617) 988-8401