Indigent defense case management
From the docket
to the report.
Public defense runs on a court day: a docket in the morning, screenings before arraignment, counsel appointed by noon. First Appearance follows that day, and the compliance numbers fall out of the work instead of being reconstructed at the end of the quarter.
18
Quarterly figures
Measured from the work, each with the case list behind it.
0
Spreadsheets to reconcile
One record, read many ways, rather than four lists that drift apart.
92
Day rolling caseload
Every attorney's share of their cap, visible while you assign.
The court day
Built around how the work actually runs
01
Docket
Enter a whole docket at once, with defendants matched against prior cases before anything is saved.
02
Jail roster
Work down the roster marking custody, which the screening then weighs.
03
Complaints
Search a charge catalog carrying statute, class, and penalty. The case category forms as you go.
04
Interview
Income against the guideline, assets against a local retainer benchmark, and a recommendation that shows its reasoning.
05
Appointment
Assign counsel with each attorney's share of their cap visible, updating as you go.
06
Courtroom
Record what happened and schedule what follows, by hearing type.
07
End of day
One sheet per attorney, printed or saved, with everything they need for tomorrow.
08
Billing
Attorneys enter time from a grid or from the case file. Rates come from the case category.
09
Reporting
Every quarterly figure, with the case list behind it.
Compliance
Numbers that can be defended
Every quarterly figure prints with the cases behind it, grouped by month. When a number is asked about, the answer is a page rather than a search through last spring's notes.
Figures the system genuinely cannot see are marked as such rather than reported as zero.
The record
Findings are not edited
An indigency determination is a finding. Correcting one records a new screening that supersedes the old, so both stay on file and the change is part of the record.
Every change is logged with who made it and when.