SLJ Policies for Panel Attorneys

• General Requirements

• Assignment of Counsel

• Duty Day Scheduling

• CLE and Jury Trial Requirements

• Leaves of Absence

General Requirements

The following general requirements apply to all SLJ attorneys.  In addition to any policies and rules established by SLJ, a SLJ attorney must also comply with all applicable policies, standards, and performance guidelines promulgated by CPCS.

A.  Annual Contract.  Attorneys must sign an annual contract for accepting criminal case assignments agreeing to accept cases in compliance with the policies, standards, and performance guidelines promulgated by SLJ and CPCS.

B.  Bar Membership.  An attorney must be a member of the Massachusetts Bar in good standing for the general practice of law, including both civil and criminal law.

C.  Two County Limit .  An attorney must not be a member of more than one bar advocate program in addition to SLJ.

D.  Insurance Requirement.  An attorney must at all times maintain malpractice insurance in an amount of not less than $100,000/$300,000 with a deductible of not more than $10,000.  Panel attorneys must provide proof of such coverage to SLJ and must notify SLJ of any lapse or change in coverage that affects the attorney’s ability to satisfy the insurance requirement.

E.  Office Requirements.  An attorney must maintain an office suitable for meeting with clients.

1. The office must be easily accessible by public transportation to the court or courts in which the Attorney accepts assignments.

2. The attorney must have a telephone number with voice-mail capability and a system for accepting collect telephone calls from clients in custody.

3. The attorney must have his or her telephone number listed with directory assistance.

4. The attorney must maintain business cards that contain the address of the office at which the attorney meets with clients and the attorney’s phone number.

5. The attorney must be able to receive mail at the office.

Assignment of Counsel

A.  Duty Attorneys.  SLJ schedules members of its panel to be present in Suffolk County Courts daily in order for the Courts to assign them to represent indigent criminal defendants.  The attorneys assigned to accept criminal case assignments in the court on any given day are referred to as the “duty attorney” for that particular day.

1.  Duty attorneys are expected to be present in the first session of the assigned court on the assigned day when the court begins business for the day, and are required to remain in the first session at any time while the court is in session unless the the judge presiding over the first session releases the attorney from duty.

2.  SLJ attorneys shall not schedule any evidentiary matter, pre-trial conference hearing, trial or other matter which will cause the attorney to be absent from the first session on a day which has been designated a duty day.  Single session courts are not subject to this policy.

B.  Scope of Representation.  When a duty attorney is assigned as the attorney for a defendant, he or she shall represent that defendant throughout all proceedings in the court requiring an assignment, beginning with arraignment, including bail review, and continuing through trial.  However, when the attorney has not been certified by CPCS to handle the case, the attorney may represent the defendant for the purposes of bail only.

1.  When an attorney is assigned a bindover felony or youthful offender case for the purposes of bail only, he or she must inform SLJ as soon as practicable that the case needs to be reassigned, providing SLJ with the defendant’s name, the docket number, the charges, the next court date, the purpose of that court date, the jail at which the defendant is being held, and the bail status. SLJ will then reassign the case to a superior court certified attorney. If the client requests a bail review before the case is reassigned, the original attorney is required to administer that action.

2.  New counsel should be appointed by CPCS to handle any appellate matters.  The attorney assigned for trial must advised the client of his or her post-conviction rights and act to protect those rights in strict accordance with CPCS performance guidelines.  (See CPCS Assigned Counsel Manual, Chapter 4, subsection A-1-VIII.)

C.  Case Limits.  SLJ attorneys shall accept no more than 10 criminal case assignments at one duty day and no more than 25 criminal case assignments in a month.  These limits do not include cases assigned for the purposes of bail only.

Duty Day Scheduling

A. Scheduling Data.  In compliance with its contract with CPCS, SLJ requires each of its panel attorneys to specify in the annual contract whether the attorney for the contract period wishes to have (1) Duty days as regularly scheduled in rotation by the Contractor in any court in the county for which the attorney is certified, (2) a designated number of duty days in designated courts, or (3) individual case assignments depending on the attorney’s current caseload.

1.  Attorneys who wish to have duty days regularly scheduled in rotation will be assigned duty days in the courts to which they are assigned.

2.  Attorneys who wish to have a designated number of duty days will be contacted by SLJ staff when there are open duty days in the court to which they are assigned in order that the attorney may elect to cover those open duty days.

3.  Attorneys who wish to have individual case assignments will be contacted by SLJ staff when there is there is a particular case that needs assignment of counsel by SLJ.

B. Scheduling Procedure.  SLJ uses a computer database application that creates duty day calendars for each court by rotating among the attorneys assigned to the court.  Duty day calendars are created and distributed quarterly.  Quarters will begin in January, April, July, and October.  SLJ will send panel attorneys their duty day assignments no later than 45 days in advance of the next quarter. 

1.  In accordance with its contract with CPCS, SLJ will distribute duty day assignment letters via email. 

a.  When a panel member can show that he or she cannot receive duty day assignments via email, SLJ will send notification via either U.S. Mail or fax.  In order to receive duty day assignments by means other than email, an attorney must request alternate notification in writing and explain the reason for requesting non-email notification.

b. Panel Attorneys must notify SLJ by means of fax, email or other writing of any address, telephone, fax and e-mail changes.  Additionally, an attorney must submit any address changes in writing to CPCS with the attorney’s signature.

2. If an active panel attorney has not received his or her duty day assignments by the 45^th day before the next quarter, it is that attorney’s responsibility to contact SLJ and obtain his or her duty day assignments.

C.  Accepting or Declining Duty Days.  Within 30 days of the date that duty day assignments are distributed, every active panel attorney must confirm by email, fax, or U.S. Mail that he or she has received his or her duty day assignments.  If an attorney fails to confirm receipt of the assigned duty days within 30 days, SLJ will cancel the days assigned to that attorney and reassign those days to other attorneys.  Those attorneys who wish to decline any or all of the duty days assigned to them must do so within 30 days of the date the duty day calendars are issued.  Attorneys must contact the SLJ Scheduling Coordinator by email, fax, or U.S. Mail and specify the dates and courts of the duty days that they wish to decline.

D.  Duty Day Replacements.  Unless an attorney declines a duty day assignment within the 30-day period specified in paragraph F, the attorney is expected to be present in court on his or her assigned duty days or find a replacement duty attorney to cover the assigned duty day.

1.  A replacement duty attorney must be an attorney on the SLJ panel.

2.  If, in the event of an emergency, an attorney cannot attend an assigned duty day, the attorney must contact SLJ as soon as it becomes apparent that he or she will be unable to appear.  SLJ will attempt to find a replacement.

3.  An attorney who switches an assigned duty day with another attorney or an attorney who finds his or her own replacement to cover an assigned duty day, must notify SLJ immediately so that the court can be timely notified.

E.  Emergency Replacements.  Last minute duty day cancellations are accepted when there is an emergency and must be reported to SLJ and to the specific court immediately.  SLJ will find a replacement if there is an emergency.

F.  Unexcused Absences.  Any attorney who accrues two unexcused absences within the Fiscal Year (July 1 -June 30) will be removed from the active Panel list and have their future duty days cancelled. SLJ defines an unexcused absence as an unattended duty day where the Attorney does not notify SLJ or the court prior to the scheduled date. After the first unexcused absence, SLJ will issue panel members a written warning.

CLE and Jury Trial Requirements

A.   Mandatory CLE .  Each fiscal year, every SLJ Panel Attorney must attend no less than 6 hours of Continuing Legal Education in the field of criminal law.  All SLJ sponsored seminars will count toward the 6-hour requirement.  Seminars sponsored by other organizations will also count toward the requirement so long as the focus of the training is some aspect of criminal law.

B.   Jury Skills Training.  SLJ will conduct a jury trial skills training program before October 15 of each year.  Attendance at the program is mandatory for any SLJ panel attorney who does not try a jury trial to a verdict between July 1 of the year preceding the program and the date of the program.  This requirement is in addition to the six hours of CLE training required of every SLJ attorney.  Attendance is mandatory and SLJ will excuse an attorney from the requirement only in the limited circumstances provided below.  An attorney seeking to be excused from the Jury Trial Training requirement must, upon request of the SLJ program director, provide documentation to substantiate that an exception is applicable.

1.   An attorney who tried at least six trials to verdict within the previous 5 years, may be excused from attending the jury skills training program.

2.   An attorney who attended the CPCS Zealous Advocacy Training in the previous fiscal year may be excused.

3.   An attorney who did not try one jury trial to verdict in the previous fiscal year, but did satisfy the Jury Trial Training requirement for another bar advocate program may be excused.

4.   An attorney who cannot attend the program because of a reasonably unavoidable conflict may be excused by the express consent of the SLJ Board of Directors or the Board’s designee provided the attorney makes a written request to be excused and agrees to comply with any conditions of the consent set by the board.

a.   The written request to be excused from the jury skills training program must be received at the SLJ office no later than 15 days before the scheduled date of the program.

b.   The written request must specify the conflict which will prevent the attorney from attending the program and why the conflict is reasonably unavoidable.

C.   Notification.  Panel members will be notified by email when CLE programs are scheduled.  The dates and times for upcoming CLE programs will also be posted on the organization’s website and included in the organization’s newsletter.  Attorneys required to attend the annual jury trial training will be notified of this fact via email.  An attorney who has shown that he or she cannot receive duty day assignments via email, will be notified of the annual jury trial training skills program via fax or U.S. Mail.  (See  III (B)(2)).

D.   Reporting Requirements.  SLJ’s annual contract with each participating attorney shall include a form for the attorney to report his CLE and Jury Trials for the previous year.

1.   Jury Trials.  Each panel attorney upon submitting his or her annual contract shall provide SLJ with a list of criminal cases tried to a jury verdict in the preceding year, including the name, court and docket number for each case.

2.   CLE .  To show compliance with the SLJ CLE requirement, each panel attorney upon submitting his or her annual contract shall specify six hours of training in criminal law taken in the previous fiscal year.

Leaves of Absence

A. Length of Leave.  A Panel Attorney may take a leave of absence for up to one year for good cause.

B. Written Request.  Attorney must request the leave of absence in writing indicating the specific reason for the leave and the amount of time requested for such leave.  Request should be made no less than 45 days in advance of the requested leave.

C. SLJ Decision.  SLJ shall respond in writing within 30 days and indicate the amount of time permitted for a Leave of Absence.  The amount of time permitted shall be discretionary with the Board or a designated subcommittee.

D. Return from Leave.  When the panel attorney is ready to return from a leave, he or she must notify the SLJ Administrator of the date on which he or she will be prepared to resume participation on the SLJ Panel.  Failure to notify the SLJ Administrator of his or her willingness to resume participation on the panel before the date the leave of absence is to expire will result in the attorney being removed from the Panel and require that the attorney reapply to the program if he or she subsequently wishes to resume participation.

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