Finding Text
2022-001 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 agreement was not executed for one extended service case and a retainer agreement for another case was not maintained in file. These cases were open prior to 2022 that remained open or closed in 2022. Cause: The policy related to the retainer agreement was not appropriately applied by the employee. For the case where the retainer agreement was not in file, the retainer agreement was misplaced. The employee who handled the case already left Legal Services NYC. 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. ? A retainer agreement for one (1) case could not be located. However, there is a case note written by the former employee who handled the case documented that the retainer agreement was obtained. Questioned costs: There are no questioned costs noted. Recommendation: We recommend that Legal Services NYC continue to provide relevant trainings to the employees who handle client intake regarding the maintenance of retainer agreements.