Children and Family Law Division Billable Hours Cap Waiver
SECTION 119.
Section 11 of chapter 211D of the General Laws, as amended by section 119 of chapter 46 of the acts of 2015, is hereby further amended by adding the following subsection:-
(d) Notwithstanding the billable hour limitations in subsections (c) and (d), the chief counsel may waive the annual cap on billable hours for private counsel appointed or assigned to the children and family law cases and the care and protection cases if the chief counsel finds that: (i) there is limited availability of qualified counsel in that practice area; (ii) shifting the services to private counsel would result in cost efficiencies; or (iii) shifting the service to private counsel would improve the quality of service; provided, however, that counsel appointed or assigned to such cases within the private counsel division shall not be paid for any time billed in excess of 1,800 billable hours. It shall be the responsibility of private counsel to manage their billable hours.