Finding Text
2023-003 Retainer Agreements
Legal Services Corporation ALN#09.233100
Criteria: Legal Services Corporation (LSC) Reg. #1611.9.a Financial Eligibility section 9 Retainer agreements requires that when an LSC grant recipient provides extended service to a client, the recipient shall execute a written retainer agreement with the client when representation commences or as soon thereafter as is practicable.
Condition: A retainer was not executed for one (1) extensive service case.
Cause: The policy related to the retainer agreement was not appropriately applied by the employee.
Effect: Noncompliance with LSC regulations could impact future funding level.
Context: Out of sixty (60) LSC cases selected for eligibility testing, a retainer was not executed for one (1) extensive service case.
Questioned costs: There are no questioned costs noted.
*This is a repeated finding from the prior year. The prior year finding # was 2022-001.
Recommendation: We recommend that Legal Services NYC continue to provide relevant training to employees involved in client intake regarding the retainer agreements.
Views of responsible officials: See corrective action plan.