FINDING ? FEDERAL AWARD PROGRAMS AUDIT LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION 2022-001 Legal Services Corporation ? CFDA No. 09.120000 Noncompliance: Out of sixty-four case files tested, three fil...
FINDING ? FEDERAL AWARD PROGRAMS AUDIT LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION 2022-001 Legal Services Corporation ? CFDA No. 09.120000 Noncompliance: Out of sixty-four case files tested, three files did not contain the required retainer agreement. One file did not have a signed citizenship attestation statement documented. Neither of these cases were considered brief advice and consultation. Recommendation: We recommend that every effort be made to obtain retainer agreements and citizenship attestation early in the representation process and follow-up on those that are not returned. Responsible Person for Corrective Action: Tom Fritzsche, Executive Director Corrective Action to be Taken: Pine Tree holds biannual mandatory staff trainings on the LSC regulations, which include a review of the requirements for retainers and citizenship attestations. We have processes in place to obtain the required documents on paper or electronically. Pine Tree continues to prioritize compliance with these rules. In addition to continuing our biannual training of all staff about the regulations and how to fulfill them, we will continue to work on policies and procedures, and stay up to date on technological advances, that can help us overcome the factors that led to the occasions in which clients did not return the documents that Pine Tree provided for their review and completion. We will continue to evaluate the barriers, and systematic solutions to reduce them, that make it difficult to obtain the required paperwork from some clients, which can include the time-sensitive nature of our work, clients? inability to meet in person, the large geographic size of our service area, and some clients? significant mental health issues that limit their capacity to complete paperwork. The anticipated completion date for this corrective action is June 21, 2023 (scheduled all-staff LSC regulation training) ? the training will include reminders and training about these requirements. The other steps to work on overcoming some of the barriers will continue as ongoing action.