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Matters Service Reports Frequently Asked Questions
(Newest
questions are in green)
Contents
General
Changes
for Reporting 2002 Matters
Reporting
Eligibility
Community
Legal Education
Referrals
Indirect
Services
Narratives
Duplication
Question 1—
Will we have to have documentation of the matters that we perform?
Answer 1 —
The notation that the matter was performed in your case management system,
data base, intake log or comparable record is sufficient.
Question 2 — We
should not be trying to generate the highest possible number.
Isn’t that is where we get into trouble?
Answer 2 —
Agreed. We should be reporting
solid counted numbers or reasonable estimates.
If it is doubtful or if there is a question how many matters to count, we
should err on the conservative side.
Question 3 —
Can matters be reported regardless of funding source?
Answer 3 — Yes.
Question 4 —
With the CSRs, we can report cases for eligible clients even if they are funded
with non-LSC funds. Can we do the same with Matters?
Answer
4 — If the activities reported are generally targeted towards eligible
clients, they are reportable as Matters, irrespective of the source of the
funding. There is no eligibility
checking for Matters, although activities reported should be activities oriented
toward and intended to assist eligible clients.
Question 5 — Do
we have to count the matters performed by sub-grantees?
What about those done by PAI programs?
Answer 5 —
We would like you to collect all the matter information you can collect.
If it is too burdensome to collect matter information in certain
circumstances then don’t do it.
Question
6 — My program currently provides two types of direct services that do
not appear to be covered by the new reporting format.
These are: (a) individual assistance provided by a program paralegal to
homeless persons in completing applications for other social and community
services (e.g., handicapped transportation, health clinics, food stamps, etc.).
This service goes beyond mere referral, but is not being counted as a
case because no specific legal advice is being provided; and (b) individual
assistance provided by our staff Social Worker to victims of domestic violence
in completing applications to the Crime Victims Compensation Fund and providing
crisis counseling at bi-weekly evening legal advice clinics.
Please advise how we should characterize these services for purposes of
the "matter service report"?
Answer
6 — These services should be reported as
“Other”, #2 Direct Services.
Question 1 —
There are some changes in the reporting of Matters from 2001 to 2002.
How do I find out what they are?
Answer 1
— You may find them in Program Letter 02-9 which is on the Recipient
Information network (RIN) at www.rin.lsc.gov
under Bulletin Board, Reference Materials, Program Letters.
Some of the specific changes are discussed in Q&A’s directly below.
Question 2
— We have had some difficulty in deciding when to count a Matter as
“Measured” or “Estimated”, particularly in the areas of brochures and
newsletters. Is there any
further guidance on this question?
Answer 2
— Yes, we do have further guidance.
Based on our review of
the initial data submitted by grantees and follow-up conversations, we are
providing the following guidelines with respect to legal education brochures
(these guidelines should also be used in measuring or estimating circulation of
newsletters). “Measured” and “Estimated” should be broken out along the
lines of whether or not the program has direct control over the distribution and
count brochures or newsletters. Following
are some examples:
Measured:
1.
Brochures that are distributed by the
program in response to enquiries from the public.
2.
Brochures that are picked up at one of
the program’s offices by visitors to the office.
3.
Brochures handed out at a community
legal education meeting.
Estimated:
1.
Brochures dropped off in bulk for
distribution at the local Bar Association, Law School Clinics or other community
service organizations, in the event no one there counts them and/or returns the
extras.
2.
Brochures left on tables at community
legal education events and not collected afterward or counted.
Program
personnel should use their own discretion when counting brochures as
“measured” or “estimated,” using the above examples as guidelines.
The principal distinction is the degree of control one has in ensuring
that the brochure actually got into the hands of an interested citizen.
In those cases it can be counted as “Measured.”
Less certain conveyances can be counted in “Estimated.”
Question 3
— It has been difficult to determine how to count newspaper articles in
our Matters reporting.
Answer 3
— There was considerable confusion that arose in 2001 regarding
newsletter and newspaper articles. The
two types of matters should be treated differently in reporting for 2002
forward.
"Newsletters"
refers to program newsletters or other newsletters over which the program has
control of distribution and therefore can produce counts (or reliable estimates)
of the numbers of newsletters distributed. They
should be counted as discussed in Question 2 above.
"Newspapers" refers to general print
media over which the program does not have control of distribution -- for
example, a community newspaper. Because
the program does not control distribution, it is difficult to break circulation
data (which is generally available) down into reliable counts or the number of
people in our target audience (i.e., low income people or helping
agencies that serve low income people) likely to have seen and read the legal
education articles.
To
clarify this issue for 2002 and beyond, newspaper articles have been redefined
and a category I C has been added to Community Legal Education for reporting
them. (see the new Matters Form I C in the sample forms package posted on
the Recipient Information Network web site).
For 2002, it will ask for the number of articles published. We anticipate that most
will have no trouble retrospectively reporting that data for 2002, but if the
information is not available you should NOT report any numbers for newspaper
articles, but be sure to point out that you did publish newspaper articles in
the narrative portions of the matters report.
Question
4 — How do we count Video legal education materials, TV and radio spots and PSAs
Answer
4 — As with newspaper articles,
materials broadcast on TV and radio have been redefined and should be counted in
the Matters Form I C. Please count each time a video or radio spot airs as
one matter. In 2001, some programs
tried to estimate the audience and counted the aggregate as Matters. The data
was deemed too unreliable to be meaningful.
Report the actual count of each airing for 2002.
Counting each airing as one Matter will give an accurate count for video
and radio spots.
Question
1 — In calculating the "number of people directly receiving the
service", do you want us to count only the person to whom we provide the
service, or do you want the number of people in the household?
Answer
1 — You should count only the number of people directly receiving the
service.
Question
2 — Also, as part of our statewide planning, we distribute pamphlets of
several other legal services programs. Do
we count those pamphlets even though no LSC dollars were spent in producing
them?
Answer
2 — You can count any pamphlets distributed to the general target
population in your service area, regardless of the source of funds or whether
you produced them or only distributed them.
Question 3 —I
see that we can report “Measured”
or “Estimated” numbers of matters. How
do we decide which to say?
Answer 3
— Any matters you have counted should be reported as “measured.”
Any additional matters in each type of matter that you have not counted
but have a reasonable basis for estimation should be estimated.
The counted number plus the estimated number makes up the total for each
model of each type of matter as reported under Section A, “Models Used.”
(See response to Question 2 under Changes in Reporting for 2002 for further
information on counting brochures and newsletters).
For Section B “Subject Matter Categories” reporting,
you report one number for each subject matter category of each type of matter.
For example, under the type of matter, Referrals, you report in Section A
how many are measured and estimated for each model under Section A and then
report the total for each subject matter category under Section B, without
breakdown by measured and estimated.
Question
4 — Our program has a grant that allows the agency to give advice and brief
service to residents of a tri-county area who are slightly over LSC income
eligibility (Not funded by LSC or reported on CSRs to LSC).
Do you want these reported as matters?
Answer
4 — Please do not report these activities in the Matters Service Report.
It is true that matters may be reported irrespective of client
eligibility issues. However, the
activities in question are not matters but cases.
Cases may be reported only in the CSR's.
Since these cases are not eligible for CSR reporting, they should not be
included in any reports to LSC.
Question 5 — Do
we use a separate report to keep track of any matters done by a PAI program or
do we combine them?
Answer 5 —
For Matters, we do not separate PAI from staff, so you should combine them.
Question 6
— Our web site is an integral part of a web site for all the legal
services programs in
Connecticut
. There is a common page that includes client education pamphlets. Someone could
get to that site to read/download a pamphlet from our home page or from the home
page of any of the other programs. How do you want us to count the hits?
Answer 6 —
First, we are no longer counting “hits”, but page “views.”
This way, only access to the particular page is counted and it is only
counted once. Our goal with the
Results Project is to allow you to report your matters without putting a large
burden on you to do it. You should work out a system to apportion and report web
site page views that works the easiest for you. There are two likely models for
a statewide web site. (1) A common page (such as a site sponsored by the bar
association) that has some materials and links to individual program sites. (2)
A common site with information about all of the programs and content supplied by
the programs, but no program has an individual site.
For model 2, you might take the total number of page
views and apportion them among the partners by population in the service area,
or by program funding, or in some other reasonable manner. In scenario 1, you
might apportion page views to the common site in a similar manner as for 2, then
add to that the hits to the individual site.
Look at your situation and come up with a reasonable
formula that works for you without being too burdensome.
Question
7 —
when an intake specialist makes a referral
or mails CLE materials to a client who has also received advice or brief
service, and the CLE is on a different problem from the one advised about, can
we count the CLE distributed or referral made?
Answer
7 —
Yes you can. Whenever a referral or
a mailing of CLE materials on a problem different from the problem on which a
client has received Counsel & Advice or Brief Service, the referral or CLE
can be counted as a matter.
Question
8 — Must
the codes we use to record matters in timekeeping correspond to the new LSC
matters codes?
Answer
8 — All we require for a Matters timekeeping entry is that it
indicate it is for a Matter. Some
case management systems allow you to break down Matters activities on time slips
into specific activities, but that is not something LSC requires.
So
the answer is no, you need not change your codes in the timekeeping section to
correspond to the LSC Matters Codes. That said, you may want to do so to avoid
confusion for your staff. They may find it less confusing if the entries on the
time slips and the entries on the Matters slip are the same for the same
activity.
Question
9 — Do
we need to use the Matters Codes to track matters handed for individuals?
Based on discussions with staff members who administer our case
management and timekeeping systems, it appears we can capture and report the
data requested in the Matters Service Report without using the proposed Matters
Codes. Our time keeping system
captures much of that information.
Answer
9 — We
created the Matters Codes to make it easier for the programs to collect the data
and report it to us. If you can accurately collect the data on matters and
report it to LSC in the format we have requested without using the Matters
Codes, that is fine.
Question
10 —
Many of our handbooks provide both basic legal information and self-help
guidance. For example, the Utah Renters Handbook tells the rights and
responsibilities of landlords and tenants. It also provides detailed assistance
for establishing a Warranty of Habitability claim under
Utah
law. Many who receive this handbook are not financially eligible for LSC-funded
services and so we would report these individuals as "matters" not
"clients." Conceivably, we could differentiate the count by the reason
for sending the handbook, but this would add another layer of complexity to the
tabulation scheme. I'm assuming we can count these distributions in either
category.
Answer
10 —
You can count these distributions under either CLE or Pro Se; this is a judgment
call as to which best describes the assistance.
You can also split them up, but, as you said, we do not want to add
another level of complexity by asking you to track why the publication was sent
out. You cannot report any of them
as CSR's, unless a casehandler has reviewed the client's specific problem and
determined that it "sufficiently addresses the client's problem so as to
constitute legal advice." This
proviso should be taken very seriously.
Question
11 —
ULS receives grants from the
United
Way
and other sources to print comprehensive handbooks such as the Utah Renters
Handbook. We distribute several thousand each year. Local social service
agencies often ask for several hundred at a time. Can we count these?
Answer
11 —
Yes the block requests can be counted. If
you are uncertain if all of the handbooks in the block requests are distributed,
you should report them under "Estimated" rather than
"Measured" as discussed in Program Letter 02-9.
Question
12 — ULS
has a website with PDF-formatted brochures from which "page hit" data
can be generated. ULS attorneys have also contributed to the content of a
state-run web site from which users can generate complete uncontested divorce
pleadings packages as well as respond to unlawful detainer
("eviction") actions. Can we count these? [We could count these as
referrals to "other source of assistance," with an explanation.]
Answer
12 —
You should count only “page views” not “hits.” You can count all the ULS
page views. As for the State-run web
site, if you can get some information that would support an estimate of how many
page views are on the items ULS contributed to and if you have an estimate of
ULS' share in developing this site, you could include a percentage of these page
views equal to ULS' contribution to those parts of the web site.
We would not advise including the State Web site page views even as an
estimate unless you have some reasonable data for these two items.
We do not see any basis for counting any of these under
"Referral."
Question 1 — Do
we have to have documentation of eligibility information?
Answer 1 — No.
Question
2 — If a person referred is definitely ineligible (we've done eligibility
check and he turns out to be over income), do we count the activity (usually
referral)?
Answer 2 — Yes. You
may still count it as a matter.
Question 1 —
What about the detail of the counting. For
example, is it worth the trouble to produce the number of brochures distributed?
Answer 1 — One
factor to consider is the burden of getting the information.
If for example you can easily determine the number of brochures
distributed (number of brochures printed minus the number of brochures left)
please do so. In other instances, a
count will be more complex and an estimate should be used. Count
the information you can reasonably count, estimate what can reasonably be
estimated and omit anything that cannot be counted or reasonably estimated.
Question 2 — Community Legal Education Q1/A1: Is it really possible to use
"printed minus what's left" as MSR data? The CSR Handbook and FAQ says
that if we analyze an eligible individual's legal problem and determine that a
particular flyer will meet their need for problem resolution, we can close that
case "A". But if we sent the same flyer to an ineligible individual,
it's a reportable "matter."
Answer 2 — Yes, you can use "printed minus what's left", though it may be
better to count it as "estimated" rather than "measured."
The number of printed items counted as Counsel & Advice should be
very small. Remember that the
casehandler must analyze the particular client's problem and that just sending
the printed item is not enough -- the printed item must "sufficiently
address the client's problem so as to constitute legal advice" and this
proviso must be taken very seriously.
Question 1 —
Where there is a referral to more than one source, do you count it as one
referral or multiple referrals?
Answer 1 —
When you are doing a case and giving a referral, you can count both the case
and the matter — the referral (except see Question 2).
As for multiple referrals if they are
given out on one call to one individual, it still counts for only one referral. If
however, the person should call another time and another referral is given at
that time, it would count as a second referral.
Question
2 — Eligible client, we give advice, we also give a referral in the same
problem code. Example, landlord
tenant case, we advise clients on whether they can withhold rent.
We also refer them to private attorney for possible affirmative suit
because attorney's fees are available. Do
we report the referral?
Answer
2 — This is a case and should be counted as such, CSR Category C. It
should not be reported as a matter, because that case closing code includes the
referral. There are, however,
instances in which you can report a matter for the same client for whom you
report a case. For example, you
could give Brief Service or even Settlement Without Litigation on a
Landlord-Tenant issue involving nonpayment of rent and then refer the client to
a city or state housing agency for financial assistance.
Question 3 —
What about a referral where we don’t have a name or other information about
someone calling in. They describe
the situation and the intake worker knows immediately that a referral is
appropriate and gives them the referral?
Answer 3 —
That counts as a referral that is a matter.
You don’t need the name of the caller.
Question 4 — Let’s
say you refer someone to a social services resource.
In Referred Matters A, you
would count it as #3 – a referral to a provider of human or social services
(non-legal.) In Referred
Matters B would you count it as “Public Benefits” or “other?”
Answer 4 —
Count all referrals to non-legal sources of assistance as B
12, “Other Problems (Non-Legal).”
Question 5 — We have always tracked
non-case referrals as calls come in, using an on-screen pop-up list of agencies.
On the Referrals section of the Matters Report, it is unclear to me which
category certain referrals should go into.
Answer
5 — We do not expect too much time to be spent determining exactly into
which category referrals fall. Whichever
one in your judgment most nearly describes the referral should be used.
Responses to your specific questions are given below.
Question 5a — I am assuming that
referrals to the IV-D Child Support Enforcement office would fall into the
"Referred to other provider of civil legal services to low income
people" even though they serve people of all income levels. Is that
correct?
Answer 5a — Yes that is correct
because this best describes the referral.
Question 5b — In which Referrals
category should referrals to the District Attorney's office or the Public
Defender's office for CRIMINAL matters be?
Answer
5b — This should be classified as 4 — Referred to other source of
assistance, none of the above.
Question
5c — Several advocacy agencies to which we refer people have no lawyers,
but assist clients with filing public benefits appeals or represent them at
administrative hearings, such as Food Stamp fair hearings. Should we categorize
them as "Referred to provider of human or social services
(non-legal)", or "Referred to other provider of civil legal services
to low-income people", or "Referred to other source of assistance,
none of the above"?
Answer
5c — Even though they have no lawyers, the most descriptive classification
is 1 — Referred to other provider of civil legal assistance.
Question
5d — We make many referrals to the clerks of various courts. Which
Referral category should we use for this? "Referred to other provider of
civil legal services to low income people"? "Referred to other source
of assistance, none of the above"?
Answer
5d — This should be 1 — Referred to other provider of legal assistance.
Question
5e — We also make a lot of referrals to regulatory/enforcement agencies,
such as the Worker's Compensation Board, the Human Rights Commission, the state
Department of Labor, the Wage and Hour Board, the Insurance Policyholders
Complaint Division, and the Consumer Affairs Division.
Which Referral Category should we use for them?
Answer
5e — This is best described as 4 — Referred to other source of legal
assistance.
Question
5f — I am assuming that referrals to the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission would fall into the "Referred to other provider of civil legal
services to low income people", since they do have attorneys who would
represent the client if they believe the complaint has merit. Is that correct?
Answer
5f — We agree.
Question 6 — On
the matters service report for referred, not included in "case
service" statistics, part A(1) and A(2) it appears that we do not count any
referrals as matters from the Legal Services program to the PAI program.
Is that correct?
Answer 6 —
Yes, that is correct.
Question
7 — Through our hotline service (like other programs throughout the
country) we routinely refer callers to the private bar, another legal source if
available, and one or more social service agencies. LSC seems to want us to
track with specificity the type of referral. When all three referrals are made,
what is the preferred coding choice? Would it be possible to add a code for
multiple referrals?
Answer
7 — You
just pick the coding for the one you consider the most significant. In the MSR,
all such choices are the judgment of the program and LSC will not be
second-guessing them. We have not seen sufficient demand for a “multiple
referral code” to justify making this change.
Question 1
— What about the situation where a community advocate calls in to a staff
person and gets specific advice about how the individual should proceed?
Answer 1 — You
could record that you do this under Indirect Services 1: “Legal education for
lay service providers” and give more information in the overview or example
boxes.
Question 1 — My
program has over 110 projects which would fall into the areas of "other
indirect service matters" or "collaborative service delivery
models." From my reading of the instructions, I am to describe these
projects as well as describing methods of estimating clients, other pro se
activities, and other outreach activities. And it appears that I must do so in
300-1000 words. In addition to the description, you would like stories regarding
these projects, or at
least some of them. How am I to do this and stay within the word limit?
Answer 1 —
The narrative portion of your Matters Service Report due next March will be
300-1000 words. It is not expected to address each project, but briefly to
address each type of service, so there is not expectation of describing or even
listing each project. Thus you would discuss what your program is doing in
the area of economic development under "indirect service" matters and
what else the other 32 indirect service projects are doing.
As for the vignettes, this is Section B of the
narrative and is separate and not included in the 300-1000 words length of
Section A. The request is for two to five vignettes from among all your types of
Matters -- there is no expectation of completeness here and, indeed, you are not
even required to select an indirect service for one of these vignettes.
As for estimation methods, this is Section C of the narrative and is, again,
separate.
Thus, what you are asked to do in Section A is simply an
overview of services provided, as the title says, touching on each of the
six types of Matters (if you have all six), Community Legal Education, Pro Se,
Referrals, Outreach, Indirect Services, and Other. There is no request for
a listing of all projects anywhere in the Matters
reporting package.
Question 1 — When an intake specialist makes a referral or mails CLE materials to a
client who has also received advice or brief service, and the CLE or referral
reiterates or supplements the advice given, do we count that CLE?
Answer 1 — For the CLE, we would interpret the mailing as part of the Counsel &
Advice or Brief Service, so it should not be counted separately.
However, we do not want programs to expend any significant effort on this
duplication issue. Therefore, if it
is known at the time of entry that there is a CSR case, the CLE should not be
entered, but we do not ask you to check your matters against your CSR's to
ferret out such instances.
For the referral, the case could have been closed under "Referred
After Legal Assessment" and if it is, the referral should not be reported
as a matter since it is included in the case closure.
If the referral is not a significant element of the legal assistance and
the case is closed as Counsel & Advice or Brief Service (CSR Categories A or
B), then the referral may be reported separately as a matter.
Again, we do not want programs to expend any significant effort on this
duplication issue. Therefore,
decisions should be made at the time of entry of the matter into the records
system and we do not ask you to check your referrals against CSR's to detect any
that would duplicate "Referred After Legal Assessment" cases.
Question 2 — If we provide a legal presentation at a senior citizens congregate meals
site and distribute a brochure on the topic of the presentation as well as one
that's unrelated to the presentation, can we count both "heads" and
"paper?"
Answer
2 —
While we are not imposing duplication checking, you should avoid reporting
methods that tend to run up numbers by counting more than one matter for the
same activity. Accordingly, you
should count either "heads" or "paper", but not both.
Question 3 — Some ULS attorneys volunteer their time to run pro se divorce clinics.
Participants are not screened for eligibility. May we count attendance at these?
If we refer an individual to such a clinic, can we count this as a referral to
"other source of assistance?" Does it matter that the referred
individual may not be financially eligible for LSC-funded assistance (even if
divorce without violence were within our case service priorities)? Obviously, if
we count both the number who attend such clinics and those referred, duplication
will exist to the extent that some people who are referred will actually attend.
Answer 3 — If the activity is an activity of your program, you can count it.
It is unclear from the question whether this is a ULS activity or just
one that ULS personnel volunteer for. If
it is an activity of your program, you can count the attendees as matters,
presumably under pro se. If it is
not a ULS activity, you can count the referred individuals as referrals.
You should not do both. In
general, if an activity is a ULS activity, you cannot count referrals to it, but
can count it under other matter types.
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