Keeping detailed time sheets remains the best practice, and detailed time sheets will always be required for criminal files:
- in which Extra Hours are claimed under tariff item 11.19, or
- that fall under the Hourly Case Management program.
We recognize that many criminal lawyers do not keep detailed time sheets as a standard operating procedure, and do so recognizing that they are likely forgoing the ability to claim 11.19 time. They are free to make this choice.
Having said that, it is vital that all certificate lawyers be able to back up their work when audited. Audits of invoices can be triggered by a client complaint, but also by random spot checks. In these instances, our team of Certificate Tariff Officers will need to reach out to counsel to obtain records of what work has been done on a file and when.
Time sheets are the best way to demonstrate this, but they are not the only way. With this in mind, criminal lawyers who invoice by block billing only are able to submit their records, when they are requested, by simply listing the work that they have done along with the day it was performed to ensure LAA is able to validate invoice submission.