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Invoice submissions

Reimbursable expenses

All invoices are audited for required documentation and approvals to ensure that non-reimbursable time or expenses have not been billed and that time totals and expense totals are reasonable and accurate.

Non-reimbursable expenses

Attorney Time

  1. Contact with the SPD on case appointment and other administrative issues
  2. Work done prior to the date of appointment
  3. Work done which is primarily administrative in nature such as:
    • Copying/Printing/Scanning/Faxing/Mailing
    • Opening/Closing File
    • Reviewing OAC
    • Receiving Documents
    • Notice of Appearance/Retainer (OAC tells the court who the attorney is)
  4. Completion of all SPD forms (including all billing forms, expense requests, etc.)
  5. Work done by another attorney without prior approval, unless the client has consented for another attorney to substitute at a routine appearance (i.e., no evidence taken, no testimony, no significant legal argument, and no disposition, including plea bargaining).
  6. Uncompleted phone calls
  7. Time spent appealing payment decisions

Expenses

  1. Office overhead, such as:
    • In-office photocopying (except as noted above)
    • Basic phone service
    • Faxing
    • Bar dues
    • Malpractice insurance
    • Legal Research/Subscriptions
    • Jury Instructions
    • CLE fees
  2. Transcript preparation fees which are payable by the state or county (e.g. state appeals)
  3. Process service fees without prior approval
  4. Client transportation and costs to purchase clothing for clients
  5. Costs associated with an appeal of our payment decisions
  6. Costs associated with ineffective assistance of counsel claims against the attorney
  7. Costs associated with late payment to an expert or investigator

Reimbursable expenses

  1. Reasonable attorney hours
  2. Travel and mileage
    • Additional information on Mileage Details page
  3. Parking
    • Receipts must be produced upon request
  4. Expert/Investigator/Paralegal/Legal Assistant Services
    1. Prior approval required
    2. When you submit your invoice to the SPD, you must include the cost of the expert/investigator/paralegal/legal assistant bill as an expense. You must also send a copy of their itemized bill to [email protected]. The expert/investigator/ paralegal/legal assistant bill must include the dates of any and all services provided. An SPD payment to an attorney includes payment for an expert/investigator/ paralegal/legal assistant bill. An attorney is required to promptly pay an expert, investigator, paralegal or legal assistant. See Wi. SCR § 20:1.15(d).
    3. In some cases, an expert/investigator/paralegal/legal assistant bill may be processed before the case is concluded. You may contact ACD to request approval to submit an interim invoice for those costs. Generally, interim invoices for experts, investigators, paralegals and legal assistants are approved if the case will not close for at least 60 days and their work is completed.
    4. The SPD cannot pay a retainer for these services. If necessary, ACD will provide a letter to the expert/investigator/paralegal/legal assistant documenting approval and the amount the Agency has agreed to pay.
    5. Example of detailed billing
  5. Reasonable photocopying, printing and postage expenses
    • While a case is pending it may be helpful for a client to have access to information in the client file. A client who is incarcerated may not be able to access electronic material. If a client cannot access electronic material, an attorney may copy/print and provide the client those documents helpful for the client to review. If the expense is expected to exceed $50, the attorney must first submit a case expense request.
    • The SPD will reimburse for reasonable duplication expenses that are reasonably required to discharge counsel’s duties or obligations at a rate of $0.10/page for in- office copying/printing and up to $0.20/page plus fees for compiling, stapling or other binding for all out-of-office copying/printing. A receipt that includes the number of pages and the price per page must be submitted along with any out-of- office copy/print service.
    • All requests for copy/printing reimbursement must be accompanied by the required Copying/Printing/Postage/File Delivery Reimbursement Form.
  6. Obtaining records other than medical records or DOC records
    • If you obtain any other records, you must provide the receipt if over $50 and request authorization if over $100.
  7. Photos
    • Photos are generally provided as part of electronic discovery. SPD will not pay for color copies of photos to be made from electronic images. If an attorney would like photographs for court exhibits, the attorney should submit a case expense authorization prior to incurring the expense.
  8. Phone calls and video contacts
    • SPD will reimburse collect calls from the client. Long distance calls and video client contacts will be reimbursed only if they result in a separate and additional charge to the standard bill for maintaining communication service.
  9. Text messages
    • ACD will reimburse attorneys .01 hour (36 seconds) per text message. If an attorney is claiming more than .01 hour per text message, the attorney should identify the professional legal services being conducted via text messaging. Attorneys should itemize the number of text messages for which they are requesting reimbursement. ACD may also request copies of the text messages for auditing purposes.
  10. Lodging
    • Prior approval required
    • Lodging 60+ miles from home may be reimbursable. A hotel’s standard rate may be higher than the state rate, but some hotels honor the state rate when informed that the stay relates to official state business and when shown a copy of the Order Appointing Counsel.
    • Meals are reimbursed only when associated with an approved overnight stay. When a meal is included in the cost of lodging, such as a continental breakfast, an expense related to dining out for that meal is not reimbursable.
  11. Client file
    1. The file is property of the client. SPD does not pay for a duplicate copy of the file. Attorneys may copy documents for their files at the attorney’s expense. If the attorney must provide the client file to the client or to successor counsel, the attorney should bill the delivery cost directly to the SPD Fiscal Unit. The attorney must complete a Copying/Printing/Postage/File Delivery Reimbursement Form and submit it along with the required receipts and verification.
  12. Appellate briefs
    • Reasonable expenses for mailing, serving, and filing a petition for review, motions, briefs, no-merit reports, or other documents required to discharge counsel’s duties. This does not apply to general correspondence in appellate matters. Counsel must effectuate timely filing and service in the least expensive manner available. Counsel may utilize the U.S. mail or third-party commercial carriers. However, express mail and express delivery charges are disfavored and will not be reimbursed if unreasonable. A receipt is required for reimbursement.
    • The cost of production of any briefs and the cost to file the briefs should be billed directly to ACD. The attorney must complete a Copying/Printing/Postage/File Delivery Reimbursement Form and submit it along with the required receipts.

Invoice auditing

Pursuant to Wis. Stat. § 977.08(4), the SPD may approve or reject a bill in whole or in part. Should you be dissatisfied with the decision of the SPD regarding your bill, you have the right to appeal the decision to the Public Defender Board. See Wis. Stat. § 977.08(4). The appeal must be filed in writing with the SPD at PO Box 7923, Madison, WI 53707-7923 within 30 days of receipt of payment. The appeal must include a statement explaining why the attorney believes the adjustment to the bill was inappropriate.

Attorney bills are subject to cumulative audits. Audits to check for duplicate travel and other time are routine. Audits of invoices may occur when an attorney has a pattern of high billing, unit billing (e.g. always billing 1.7 hours to draft opening documents, always billing .5 hour to review CCAP, etc.), or other irregular billing practices. In some instances, the SPD is obligated to report improper billing to the Office of Lawyer Regulation, local prosecutors, or the Department of Justice.

The SPD will not pay for more than 15 hours in a single day and may question any day in which an attorney bills more than 8 hours. Consideration will be given on a case by case basis for exceptional circumstances which may justify payment of more than 15 hours in a single day. Attorneys with days of more than 15 hours will be contacted before any adjustments to payments are made.

Attorneys should be prepared to produce contemporaneous time records for the dates in question. The SPD will not pay for more than 2080 hours worked in a calendar year. See Wis. Admin. Code § PD 4.06. Attorneys who bill more than 2080 hours worked in a calendar year will be contacted before any recoupment is made.

Invoice processes

Trial level appointment invoices

Attorneys should submit invoices at the conclusion of their representation. Representation is not complete until the attorney has completed the steps listed in the Duties of Trial Counsel memo.

An invoice is submitted electronically using the attorney’s password protected billing page. An invoice will not be processed unless it is complete and includes all required receipts and documentation. By submitting an invoice, an attorney certifies that the invoice is accurate, the invoice complies with billing rules, and that the attorney provided representation in compliance with SPD minimum attorney performance standards. The attorney is responsible for the accuracy of bills and compliance with billing rules even if the billing is prepared and submitted by another at the attorney’s request.

Appellate level appointment invoices

Representation in a direct appeal begins at the date of appointment and continues through review, or denial of a petition for review, in the Wisconsin Supreme Court. An attorney may submit a final invoice every time a case passes from one court to another. (i.e. from the post-conviction phase to the direct appeal phase.) If an attorney chooses to submit a final invoice when the case passes to the next court, the attorney should notify the Appellate Office for reappointment. If an attorney files a no-merit report, they may get approval from ACD to submit an interim invoice while waiting for the court to affirm or reject the report.

Interim invoice submissions

An attorney may seek approval to submit an interim bill for payment of expert fees, investigator fees, or attorney time before the case concludes. Interim bills for experts and investigators will be approved in most instances if the expert/investigator has performed a significant amount of work, or if the expert or investigator’s work is completed. Approval of an interim bill for attorney time will be considered when the attorney has performed a substantial amount of work on the case, the case is more than six months old, and the case is unlikely to be completed within the next 60 days.

Interest payments

The State’s Prompt Payment Laws, Wis. Stats. § 16.528 and 16.53(11) require payment of interest on state order and contract payments that are not made in a timely manner. Payments made from this appropriation are considered timely if they are mailed within 120 days of receipt of the invoice. See Wis. Stat. § 20.550 (1) (d)