supplemental instructions mlsc grantee fy16 final report · impact case (yes/no): by capturing this...

Supplemental Instructions

MLSC Grantee FY16 Final Report (July 1, 2015 - June 30, 2016)

For Further Information, Please Contact:

Deb Seltzer, Grants Manager Maryland Legal Services Corporation

Charles Towers 15 Charles Plaza, Suite 102 Baltimore, Maryland 21201

Phone: (410) 576-9494 ext. 1009 Toll-Free: (800) 492-1340 E-mail: [email protected]

Supplemental Instructions – MLSC Final Report ii

Supplemental Instructions MLSC Grantee Final Report

Contents

I. Case Statistical Reporting ......................................................................................... 1

Overview ................................................................................................................................ 1

Case Statistical Reporting – Questions and Answers ............................................................. 2

II. Major Benefits Produced for Clients ....................................................................... 4

Instructions ............................................................................................................................. 4

Modifying Your Existing Forms for Capturing the Data ........................................................... 5

Obtaining Software for Capturing the Data ............................................................................. 5

Using a Supplemental "Benefits Produced for Clients" Form .................................................. 5

Tabulating the Data ................................................................................................................ 5

Special Issues in Collecting Pro Bono Case Data .................................................................. 6

SAMPLE Pro Bono Closed Case Summary ........................................................................... 7

Benefits Produced for Clients – Questions and Answers ........................................................ 8

III. Narrative Reporting ................................................................................................ 10

Narratives in the MLSC Grantee Final Report .......................................................................10

Some Methods for Capturing Narrative Data .........................................................................10

Vignettes of Typical Cases ....................................................................................................10

Narrative Reporting – Questions and Answers ......................................................................12

IV. Completion of Data Tables .................................................................................... 13

Supplemental Instructions – MLSC Final Report 1

I. Case Statistical Reporting This section is not applicable for MLSC grantees that DO NOT provide direct legal representation.

Overview Case statistics provide one important piece of information you can use to describe your program. The MLSC Grantee Final Report (GFR) also collects narrative information that puts your statistics in context by providing an opportunity to describe all aspects of your program's activities - for example, training, community legal education and "vignettes" describing typical cases. Case statistics aren't everything – but they tell an important story.

Statistics provide a sense of the numbers and kinds of matters handled by your program each year.

They help people understand trends. For example, is your program getting more requests for service now than in recent years? Is the caseload of your staff growing or getting smaller? Is the mix of cases changing over time?

At a statewide level, MLSC uses your statistics as part of its program of advocating for legal services in the legislature, among the leadership of the private bar and in other forums.

At a local level, MLSC grantees use case numbers for describing their programs to audiences that include funders, local bars, and city, county and state agencies.

Case data can help you demonstrate that your program is well-managed.

Having command of your case statistics conveys a message that yours is a solid, well managed program. Conversely, an inability to describe your case work in quantitative terms raises questions about professionalism and management that can undermine your program's credibility with important audiences.

Potential supporters and funding sources expect and appreciate reliable, defensible information about the types and volume of services you provide.

A system for producing reliable case data consists of two parts: forms for capturing the data about each case and a method for tabulating those data into summary reports and statistics.


Case Statistical Reporting – Questions and Answers Question: Our program represents groups, not individuals. How do we account for

these in our case statistics? Answer: Simply count each group case as one case. The MLSC report on "Benefits

Produced for Clients" provides an opportunity to report on group representation in more detail (see “Benefits From Direct Legal Representation of Groups.”) In reporting demographic data in the Final Report, use the line for Organizational Clients.

Question: How do I deal with a case where the "Legal Problem" or the "Level of Service

Provided" does not fit any of the categories listed on the form? Answer: Both the "Legal Problem" and "Level of Service Provided" sections include

"Miscellaneous" or “Other” categories. You can use these for the occasional situations that arise for which none of the MLSC categories fit your case.

However, if your program's work is unique to the extent that a SIGNIFICANT

PERCENTAGE (i.e., more than five percent) of your cases fall into the "Miscellaneous" category, you will need to develop your own categories for summarizing those cases.

Question: One problematic category on your forms is "Brief Advice, Information and

Referral." These kinds of cases vary widely in the amount of program work involved, ranging from handling a single phone call to having eight or more contacts with the client.

Answer: We acknowledge the wide range previously represented by this category. We have

tightened the definition of this category to apply only to cases that require “a minimal amount of staff time, i.e., approximately 30 minutes or less.” Cases that require more time should be classified as “Counseling” or another applicable MLSC “level of service” category. Conversely, calls from people who are over-income, involve issues not handled by your organization, or require a simple, quick referral should not be counted as a case. A rule of thumb is if it will take more time to gather the client identifying information needed to report a call as a case than it will to provide the information needed by the caller, report the contact as a “call,” not an open case (see MLSC Grantee Final Report, question C1, page 9).

Question: But we have an "800" hotline that handles dozens of phone calls a day, many

of which result in our giving legal advice or making referrals. Are we supposed to count every one of those calls as a "case?"

Answer: It depends on whether the circumstances of a particular call fit MLSC’s definition of

a case - “a distinct legal problem or a set of closely related problems of a client and the legal activities or process used in resolving those problems.” If a hotline phone contact results in a legal assessment of the applicant’s problem being made AND if a legal service has been provided (which can include brief advice, information and referral taking only a few minutes), then it can be considered a “case” and counted in your program’s statistical reports. However, if it does not include a legal assessment by a lawyer or paralegal, and/or no legal service was provided (for example, the caller was simply asking for the name of a lawyer who


handles tax problems), then it should not be counted as a “case,” but reported as a “call.”

Note that the Grantee Final Report has another place for indicating the total

number of people served by legal hotlines – including contacts that fall short of qualifying as “cases.” So hotline services that fit the definition of “cases” should be counted in both your case statistics AND included in the number reported in the “hotlines” section. Hotline contacts that do not fit the definition of a case should be reported only in the “hotlines” section.

Question: Sometimes a case involves several legal problems, not just one. For

example, a single case might involve "divorce," "custody," and "support" issues. Do I enter more than one problem code? How many "cases" do I count for this client?

Answer: MLSC’s definition of a case considers a client with two or more closely related

legal problems as presenting a single case “if all of the problems will be resolved through a single legal process or forum.” For example, a domestic matter in which the issues of divorce, child custody, support and visitation are all resolved in one legal process or forum is considered one case. However, if the problems are addressed in separate legal processes or forums – for example, a client with public assistance, food stamps and Medicaid problems – they would be defined as separate cases for purposes of reporting statistics to MLSC.

If you decide it is one case, but several problems are involved, you should count it

according to the one "major” legal problem, that is, the one that, in your judgment, involves the greatest potential value to the client (if the case succeeds) or the greatest potential loss (if it fails). You should not count any case more than once.

Question: Some of my program's cases are "impact" cases, which benefit scores, or

sometimes even thousands, of people, yet they count as only one "case." Our case statistics would then seem to be a misleading indicator of the amount of services we provide.

Answer: In your case statistics, count each impact case as one case. Note that in addition

to "closed case" statistics, there is a section of the MLSC Grantee Final Report for reporting in more detail on "Impact Cases or Projects." You should include numbers, if available, in your narrative indicating how many people were affected by a significant development in a case or project underway in your program. We consider your impact work to be an important component of your program, worthy of special emphasis in the reporting format we have adopted.


II. Major Benefits Produced for Clients

Instructions Five categories of statistics are collected at the time each case is closed. The advocate who is responsible for the case fills out a form to summarize what the case was about and what the results were. The first three items are the standard "case closure" items that are traditionally collected by all legal services programs nationwide:

Legal Problem involved in the case

Level of Service Provided

Impact Case (yes/no) The remaining two categories of information deal with benefits produced for clients:

Major Benefit Achieved for the Client o Type of benefit achieved o Number of persons directly benefited

Group Case (yes/no). If yes, then two additional items are recorded: o Major benefit achieved o Type of group represented

The following paragraphs provide details about each of these items. Also see the included “Questions and Answers.” Legal Problem: The advocate reviews the case at closure and records the major legal problem that was addressed. Usually this will be the problem that was recorded at intake, but sometimes the circumstances of the case or the problem definition will have changed by the time the case reaches its conclusion. Level of Service Provided: The advocate chooses a category from the list printed in the MLSC Grantee Final Report to indicate the highest level of service that was provided, ranging from "brief advice, information and referral" to "representation in judicial litigation." Impact Case (yes/no): By capturing this information at case closure, the advocate flags this case to be counted when you tabulate the number of "Impact Cases or Projects" to be reported in your MLSC Grantee Final Report. Benefits Produced for Clients a. Major Benefit: When the case is closed, the advocate responsible for the case

determines what is the single most significant benefit that was achieved, selected from the list printed in the Grantee Final Report.

b. Number of Persons Directly Benefited: At case closure the advocate determines this

number based on her/his knowledge of the circumstances of the case. In some cases, this will be the number of people in the client's household. For example, if the benefit was, "Prevented Eviction," the appropriate number will often be the number of people in the household who avoided homelessness. In other cases, the prudent answer will be one individual: the client. For example, if the benefit was "Obtained a Divorce,” it may be clear


to the advocate only that the client was benefited, not other members of the household. For further discussion, see “Benefits Produced for Client - Questions and Answers,” page 8.

Group Case: A group case is a case in which the client is a group or organization, rather than an individual. Often legal services programs serve as general counsel to community groups that provide various services to the eligible low-income population. When an advocate responsible for a group case completes a matter (for example, an incorporation process) for a group client, s/he counts it as a “group case” and flags it to be counted when the "Benefits from Legal Representation of Groups" section of the Grantee Annual Report is tabulated. S/he then records two additional pieces of information: a. Major benefit achieved: The advocate selects the appropriate "Major Benefit" from a list

of categories provided in the Grantee Final Report for group cases - for example, "Obtained incorporation/tax exempt status."

b. Type of group represented: The advocate selects the appropriate category from the list provided in the Grantee Final Report; e.g., “Consumer Group."

Modifying Your Existing Forms for Capturing the Data Most MLSC grantees have an intake form, which is also used at case closure for recording case outcome information such as "Level of Service Provided." This form can be modified by adding fields for capturing the "Benefits Produced for Clients" information described above.

Obtaining Software for Capturing the Data Case management software programs commonly used by legal services programs to capture this data include KEMPS Caseworks (www.kempscaseworks.com), Social Solutions (www.socialsolutions.com), LegalServer (www.legalserver.org) and Legal Track (www.legaltracksoftware.com).

Using a Supplemental "Benefits Produced for Clients" Form A simple form capturing the additional data can be used if you do not want to modify your existing forms or computer screens. The advocate enters a few items of identifying information onto the supplemental form (such as case number, client name, and staff name or ID number) and then enters the "Benefits Produced for Clients" information into the corresponding fields on the form. A copy of the form goes into the case file and another goes to the person who will tabulate the data for the report to MLSC.

Tabulating the Data You must tabulate the data to complete your MLSC Grantee Final Report. You do not submit case-by-case data to MLSC. You report only summary statistics – for example, the total number of “Family” cases closed during the reporting period. Tabulation of the individual data from your case closure forms or computer system is a preliminary step in preparing your report. The statistics can be tabulated manually or by computer:

Manual Tabulation: If your program’s volume of cases is small (for example, less than 500 cases per year), it is feasible to tabulate the data manually, using a simple tally form.

http://www.kempscaseworks.com/

http://www.socialsolutions.com/

http://www.legalserver.org/

http://www.legaltracksoftware.com/


Computer Tabulation: As noted above, several case management software packages have modules for producing reports of the MLSC data. If your program compiles case statistics using another software application, you may need to add a report to display the “Benefits” data.

Special Issues in Collecting Pro Bono Case Data It can be challenging to collect data from pro bono lawyers about the cases they have handled for legal services clients. Yet the pro bono community demonstrated years ago that this issue can and must be addressed. A pro bono program that knows what is happening to its clients can carry out steps to ensure that the needs of both clients and lawyers are being met. It is this capacity that defines a pro bono program as a serious component of the MLSC-funded legal services delivery system. The following are suggestions for collecting reliable case outcome data from pro bono lawyers:

Let lawyers know up-front that they are expected to provide the data. Inform lawyers at the time of signing up for the program that your funders require you to collect a few items of information about each case as a condition of continuing to receive funding.

Make the data collection process user-friendly. Mail or fax the lawyer a simple form s/he can fill out and fax back to you at the end of the case. Or call the lawyer and collect the information in a brief phone conversation, then fill out the form yourself. Either way, make sure that the process will take no more than five minutes of the lawyer's time.

Avoid making the lawyer deal with specialized data collection jargon. For example, don't send a long list of codes and definitions that lawyers have to read and deal with before they can use your forms. The questions on the form should be brief and self-explanatory. If a code is needed (for example, the "major benefit produced for the client"), give the lawyer a space to write a one-sentence summary of what happened in the case, then "code" the case yourself using the lawyer's narrative answer.

Link the data collection with your lawyer recognition process. Let lawyers know that you need this information to make sure they get credit for the work they are doing. Use it to prepare your annual "Honor Roll" or to send out thank you letters to lawyers who have finished cases during the year.

Follow up. You should have a tickler system in place for following up with lawyers who do not respond to your initial request for information. A faxed follow-up form, with space to enter the information and fax it back, is a useful tool that enables the lawyer to respond with a minimum of interruption.

You cannot expect to get a 100% response from pro bono lawyers. MLSC acknowledges that despite your best efforts there will be lawyers who fail to provide the data you have requested. In recognition of this fact, the MLSC Grantee Final Report invites you to provide "best professional estimates" for certain items that will be especially subject to underreporting – for example, "Hours of Pro Bono Service." You can use the data you are able to collect for estimating the data you are unable to collect. For example, if 80% of your lawyers have responded to your data request and the average time they have reported amounts to ten hours per case, you can apply that figure to estimate the time contributed by the 20% who did not respond.


SAMPLE Pro Bono Closed Case Summary

To: ___________________________________________________ Re: Case of: ___________________________________________ Thank you very much for handling this matter. Your pro bono work represents a significant contribution to our program and to our community. We would very much appreciate your completing this summary and faxing or mailing it back to our office at your earliest convenience (see address information on the letterhead). We want to make sure we recognize your contributions to our program. In addition, this information will be used in our annual report to our funding sources, which is a requirement of continued funding. Thanks in advance for taking the time to complete this summary. 1. Legal matter that was addressed - e.g., divorce, bankruptcy: ____________________ 2. Highest level of service that was provided - check ONE: a. ____ Brief advice, information and referral d. ____ Administrative remedies b. ____ Counseling e. ____ Judicial litigation c. ____ Negotiations f. ____ Other appropriate remedies specify: ______________________ 3. Major benefit produced for the client. Please summarize, in a sentence or two, what was

achieved - for example, “client obtained a divorce,” or “prevented eviction of the client from home.”

a. Benefit: _______________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________

b. Number of people affected (usually the number in the household): ________

4. Number of pro bono hours you contributed in completing this case: __________________ 5. Comments, suggestions, etc. OPTIONAL - Please write below any comments about this

case or suggestions you have for improving our pro bono program:

Thanks! Please fax or mail this back to us at the address on the letterhead.


Benefits Produced for Clients – Questions and Answers Question: How do I count cases for which my program invested significant resources

but, due to circumstances outside our control, no benefits were achieved – for example, we got an unfavorable court decision?

Answer: You should not feel compelled to count a benefit for every case. The facts of some

cases simply mitigate against a successful outcome. In other cases, a client may withdraw or fail to return to the program and after a period of time you decide that no further action will be taken. Here, "Client Withdrew or Benefit Unknown" is a perfectly acceptable choice.

To insist on identifying benefits for every case would only inflate the client benefits

numbers and reduce their value as a way of describing the impact of your program.

Question: How do I deal with a case where the client benefits don't fit any of the

categories listed on the form? Answer: The "Miscellaneous" category contains a choice labeled "Obtained benefit - None

of the Above" which includes a space on the form for entering a brief description of the specific benefit that was obtained. This category can be used for tabulating benefits that are highly specific to the type of work your program does and are not captured by any of the other categories on the form.

Question: What guidelines apply for counting the number of people receiving benefits

from a case? For example, in a custody case, do I count just one person, i.e., the parent who is my client? Or do I include the child(ren) as well?

Answer: As a general guideline, legal services advocates who were involved in

development of the “benefits” measure agreed that we should use "Size of Household" as a starting point. That information is usually collected at intake for each case.

That number should be reviewed at case closure and adjusted if necessary if

circumstances changed subsequent to intake – for example, in a custody case you would adjust if a child left the household and is not affected by the custody decision.

There will be some cases where "Size of Household" clearly does not apply and

you need to apply your best judgment. For example, the number entered for "Obtained Protection From Domestic Violence" would exclude the household member causing the violence.

Question: In some cases, my client receives several benefits, not just one. For example,

a single case might include "prevented eviction" and "preserved or restored access to personal property." Do I check more than one benefit?

Answer: You should check only the one "major” benefit, that is, the one that, in your

judgment, is of greatest value to the client. You should not check more than one benefit per case.


Hopefully in the vast majority of cases the choice of "Major Benefit" will not be difficult and will be closely linked to the primary legal problem involved in the case. For example, if you successfully represented a client in a bankruptcy proceeding, the major benefit would be "Obtained Federal Bankruptcy Protection" and nothing else. Although one might argue that in this case a second benefit, "Stopped or Reduced Debt Collection Activity," was achieved, it is unnecessary to count it, because that would be assumed in a successful bankruptcy case. If, on the other hand, you negotiated a payment plan with some creditors instead of proceeding with a bankruptcy, the most appropriate benefit might indeed be "Stopped or Reduced Debt Collection Activity."

You should contact MLSC with regard to this report if certain combinations of

closely related legal problems represent a significant portion of your program’s total closed cases (e.g. immigration or complex family law matters), resulting in a significant under-reporting of major benefits. In most instances, however, you should use your best professional judgment, and pick the ONE category that represents the greatest value to the client.

Question: For our Pro Se family law clients, we don’t usually know the outcomes of the

cases. How do we report these cases in Major Benefits? Answer: In determining benefits, we are trying to capture the highest level of achievement

through the service provided to the client. In most Pro Se assistance, you would report “Obtained Brief Advice, Information and Referral on a Family Matter” or Obtained Counseling Services on a Family Matter.”


III. Narrative Reporting

Narratives in the MLSC Grantee Final Report The MLSC Grantee Final Report (GFR) provides several opportunities to tell about your program's services in addition to direct representation. These include:

Impact Cases and Projects

Hotlines and Other Telephone-Based Legal Services

Other Legal Services Provided to Individuals

Resources for Other Service Providers

Activities for Encouraging Volunteer/Pro Bono Involvement

Outreach

Training Provided for Program Staff

Innovations This information is important to the people who control resources for your program. All of the areas listed above are considered essential parts of an effective service delivery system for addressing the legal needs of the poor. Each of these areas is a chapter of your program's story. It warrants a strong effort by your program to collect the information and weave it into an accurate, informative narrative. MLSC uses this data. It is compiled into a summary that is reviewed by the MLSC board as part of the refunding process. These summaries are also valuable in connection with MLSC's ongoing program development and legal services advocacy activities. Your report provides a valuable data source. Your MLSC report can serve as a source of information throughout the year for use in responding to inquiries or providing information to the press and other entities.

Some Methods for Capturing Narrative Data Set up a system to capture data throughout the year. Keep a file folder for each area covered in the report; when you see something that would be useful to include in your report, put a copy in the file. You might find these in staff reports, news clippings, presentations to community groups, and other communications throughout the year. Get the people responsible for the work involved in reporting about it. For example, ask the training-responsible person in your program to prepare a first draft of the "training" section of the report. Collect stories. Each section of the MLSC report asks for a general statement describing your program's work, followed by an example that illustrates its impact on your clients. As with case vignettes, these examples provide an opportunity to describe why this work is important. All the "Do's" and "Don'ts" provided below regarding vignettes apply to narrative items generally.

Vignettes of Typical Cases "Typical Case" vignettes provide a powerful way of telling your program's story. See "Examples of Case Vignettes" on next page.


A story is worth a thousand numbers. Case statistics are much more powerful when illustrated by examples that tell real human stories. Some grantees do an excellent job of using case vignettes and other examples to describe what they do and why it is important for MLSC to continue supporting their work.

Some stories are more compelling than others. Use good judgment in selecting cases for inclusion in your report. Legislators, reporters and other "publics" will read these stories with interest. Provide as wide a variety as possible from which we can choose examples that illustrate important facets of the services being provided with MLSC funds.

Some Dos and Don'ts in Providing Case Vignettes:

DO collect REAL stories from the advocates who are representing clients. Ask them to pass along especially vivid examples that illustrate the kinds of problems faced by your clients and how your program helped them.

DON'T describe hypothetical or made-up cases. We assume that your program has enough real cases to make hypotheticals unnecessary. Use fictitious names to avoid violating clients' privacy or confidentiality, but make the stories real.

DO keep your stories short and simple. Assume you are writing for a lay audience, not lawyers. Fifty to 75 words are enough.

DON'T dwell on the legal blow-by-blow. The focus should be on the clients and what impact your program had on their lives, not on the details of the methods you used.

DON'T wait until it is time to submit your report to MLSC to begin collecting case examples. Keep a file throughout the year where you can store interesting stories until you are ready to prepare your report.

Examples of Vignettes of Typical Cases

Our Elder Law Project represented three former Montgomery County employees of a manufacturer who were left behind when the company moved its operations to Virginia. The evidence showed that the only people left behind were older workers whom the company evidently felt would not respond well to a move or to retraining. The ELP attorney brought suit in federal court and won for the clients a substantial sum to compensate them for lost wages and other damages as a result of unlawful age discrimination.

A Calvert County woman receiving public benefits successfully worked her way off cash aid, believing that she would be eligible for assistance with child care expenses through the county-funded Child Care Program. When she called to obtain an application, she was told that since she did not file her last monthly report, she did not qualify. Our staff aided the client in applying for a fair hearing based on the county's duty to calculate her Child Care eligibility regardless of the failure to file the report. Ultimately, her eligibility was determined and approved. She is now able to stay on the job, stay off welfare, and enroll her two children in the quality early childhood education program of her choice.


Narrative Reporting – Questions and Answers Question: Most of my program's services do not involve direct case work, yet the

Grantee Final Report seems to emphasize case reporting. How do I collect data that accurately reflects the non-case work of my program?

Answer: In reality, a substantial amount of space in the GFR is devoted to services other

than day-to-day representation of individual clients. These include "Impact Projects," "Hotlines," "Other Legal Services for Individuals," "Resources for Other Legal Services Providers," "Training" and others.

You will need to set up systems for keeping track of these services. For example,

you might wish to create a simple report form for regular use by your staff working on training projects if you do not already have one. Other methods that have been suggested for capturing information on "non-case" services are:

Referring to "executive director's report" notes in minutes from board meetings

Having a monthly or quarterly staff meeting to discuss achievements, and keeping a file with notes on what people have done for reference when it is time to fill out the MLSC Grantee Final Report

Keeping a "warm fuzzy" file on milestones, achievements, clippings, etc. pertaining to impact efforts, training events and other items

Tying reporting on non-case projects and services into the personnel evaluation system

Setting a mechanism in place for capturing relevant statistics, for example, media contacts or requests handled for other service providers

Delegating the drafting of these portions of the MLSC Grantee Final Report to others in your program who are responsible for, say, training or community legal education. Let them know in advance that they should begin capturing information they will need when it is time for preparing their report.


IV. Completion of Data Tables MLSC has incorporated worksheets into the Grantee Final Report and Major Benefits Report for reporting the program data.

Program data, including all case statistics, staff, volunteer and financial data and major benefits with built-in formulas for computing totals, should be entered into the tables throughout the application.

The PDF tables have calculations built into them, similar to Excel spreadsheets.

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