Chapter 18 -- Opening cases, and reporting all charges

Question: My office has traditionally only entered the charge in an indictment that we think carries the highest Weighted Case Open amount, in defenderData – even for cases that have many charges against the client.

I’ve noticed in trainings that you’ve referred to data that will be available by looking at the charge information from when the case is opened in dData. 

Should we be entering all of the charges against the client in the indictment, when we open the case in dData?

Answer: YES! Chapter 18 contemplates that all charges against a client in a complaint, information, or indictment will be entered into dData when the case is opened. Mechanisms within dData will then select the charge that is assigned the case weight.

As a general matter, it is important to enter all charges against the client to allow the dData mechanism to assign the weight. Picking and choosing reported charges undermines the consistency of weighting and case opening, and will then undermine the reliability of the RAND WCO approach.

For the Work Measurement Study, it is critical that all charges against a client be entered. For example, there is no “gun” Workload Driver. If an office only reports a Section 841 (drug) count, but does not enter a Section 922(g) (gun) count, the data will not reflect the presence of a weapon in the charges. We anticipate that the presence of a gun in a case complicates the defense and requires more resources. If all charges are not reported, there will be no data relating to a gun in this example. The office will then lose an opportunity to explain their resource requirements because of a docket with many weapon allegations.

On a related note, it is equally important to update charges in dData when superseding charges are brought. Without those updates, the Work Measurement Study will have no data relating to those (typically more-serious) allegations.

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FAQ: Where to bill, when Task Codes Overlap?

Question:

I am confused about which task code to use because there is substantial overlap between INVE04 10.4.1, Review and Analyze Legal Documents, Case Related Documents, and Evidence (Work Center Descriptions 10.4.1-10.4.3) and ATTY06, Review Discovery, Research Charges, Penalties (Work Center Descriptions 12.6.1-12.6.4).  

When should we use one as opposed to the other?   

 

Answer:
The rule of thumb is to use the task code that most closely and accurately describes the work you are actually doing. 

In this example, use INVE04 if you are reviewing the documents to investigate the facts of the case (such as to identify witnesses), and use ATTY06 if you are reviewing the documents to identify legal issues (such as which motions to file pre-trial, which trial issues to pursue, or the potential sentencing ranges). 

In addition, while your role does not limit your billing to various tasks, the short-code prefix does provide some guidance to help select the appropriate code. The document review described in INVE04 will primarily be done by investigators. The document review described in ATTY06 will primarily be done by attorneys. While investigators and paralegals can bill to either code, the role-context of the task code also helps to explain the work targeted by that task code.

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