Late Bills

Overview

Any Ebills that are (or anticipated to be) late should be submitted as normal. Once submitted, an automated Ebill notice will notify the attorney that the statutory deadline has been missed. The notice will include directions on how to appeal the reduction or rejection.

There is no mechanism or waiver by which the reduction or rejection can be preemptively circumvented. The appeals process must be followed.

Statutory Deadlines (from the Assigned Counsel Manual):

All bills must be received by CPCS within 30 days of the conclusion of the attorney’s

representation to be eligible for payment in full. For case-closed bills, the last date of

service billed is recognized as the date the case concluded. If a case-closed bill is

received after 30 days, but within 60 days, it will be subject to a 10% reduction. If a

case-closed bill is received after 60 days, the bill will not be paid, absent a finding by the

Chief Counsel “that the delay was due to extraordinary circumstances beyond the control

of the attorney” pursuant to G.L. c. 211D, § 12(a).

For all cases, attorneys must submit a year-end bill for all un-billed services rendered

during the fiscal year and bills must be received by CPCS no later than July 31st.

Payment of year-end bills that are received from August 1st to August 31st will be

reduced by 10%. End of the year bills received on or after September 1st will not be

paid, absent a finding by the Chief Counsel “that the delay was due to extraordinary

circumstances beyond the control of the attorney” pursuant to G.L. c. 211D, § 12(a).

(Reference: Assigned Counsel Manual, page 306)