94-649 C.M.R. ch. 5, § 3 - PARAMETERS FOR CO-COUNSEL REQUESTS

1. The presumption is that PDS will only pay for one attorney per case. PDS will only pay for more than one attorney per case when PDS approves a Co-counsel request pursuant to this Chapter.

2. The Executive Director has broad discretion in determining whether a Co-counsel request will be granted, but requests will be granted liberally.

3. Co-counsel requests will be reviewed from a client-centric perspective.

4. Absent extraordinary circumstances, the Executive Director will not authorize more than two attorneys to serve as Co-counsel for a particular client in a particular matter.

5. If Counsel does not obtain written authorization for Co-counsel from the Executive Director prior to seeking appointment of Co-counsel, then the Co-counsel will not be paid for any work on the case.

6. Co-counsel does not need to be requested for an attorney's work to be compensable if:

A. The attorney assigned and the attorney who was not assigned to represent the client work in the same law firm;

B. The attorney who was not assigned to represent the client is eligible to receive case assignments pursuant to Chapter 2 of the Commission Rules;

C. The attorney who was not assigned to the case will not be appearing in court on behalf of the client, engaging in negotiations related to the case, or having Substantive Meetings with the client; and

D. The attorney(s) who was/were not assigned to represent the client will be spending no more than a combined total of three hours of work on the client's matter(s) unless Counsel receives prior written authorization from the Executive Director.

Notes

94-649 C.M.R. ch. 5, § 3