Reprinted from the September 16, 2014 Mongoose newsletter. This is perhaps the most important development in the CPS billing scandal reported in this newsletter because the false billers were claiming that there was nothing wrong with the appointed attorney billing for work done by another lawyer. A wise probate judge in Austin who reads The Mongoose e-mailed me about an appellate case that holds exactly what I have been saying: a lawyer appointed by a judge as an ad litem cannot and should not bill for work done by other attorneys (except in unusual circumstances and then only after informing the court). Let's see these "CPS appointment law firms" and mega-billers explain this: When a guardian ad litem is appointed, the trial court intends that appointed attorney to personally protect the minor's interests and to act as an officer of the court. Accordingly, it is generally not anticipated or reasonable for a guardian ad litem to delegate his ad litem responsibilities to ... Read More >
Archives for December 2014
A Law Firm Policy on Fairly Billing Clients
This is a reprint from the September 9, 2014 Mongoose newsletter. Me and a lot of attorneys are looking at our own billing practices after my articles on the outrageous and apparently false billing in CPS cases by Alicia Franklin. One excellent family law attorney, with much more experience than me, sent this e-mail: I just had 3 grueling non stop days in the office - totaled my hours for those 3 days - 18.5. I must be doing something wrong. I know few attorneys who work harder than my own Christina Tillinger, and she averages about 7.25 hours billed per day unless there is a trial or long mediation. I usually bill fewer hours than that. I have written ten simple rules for honest billing that I have now adopted as my law firm's policy. Click here to read all ten rules. Here are a few of these ten rules: 2. Bill actual time spent and round up only a little. If you spend 3 minutes on a phone call, bill 0.10 instead of 0.25. If you literally were on the phone ... Read More >
The Alicia Franklin Billing Miracle – 32.25 Hours Billed Plus 5 Court Appearances All In One Day!
This is a reprint from the September 9, 2014 Mongoose newsletter. A future postulator writing a positio about Alicia Franklin will surely include as one of the two required miracles the amazing events of March 20, 2013, when Alicia Franklin billed Harris County, as well as the parents in a private amicus case, for the following all on one blessed day: 28.5 out-of-court hours in CPS cases 3.75 hours on a private amicus case 1 CPS trial appearance 4 non-trial CPS court appearances The hours billed for this one day total 32.25 hours plus Franklin claims to have been in court on CPS cases for one trial appearance and four other non-trial appearances on that same day. There may well be other private cases that Franklin also billed for on that day. In CPS cases, ad litems bill per hour for "out of court work," but they are paid a flat rate per court appearance for trial or non-trial hearings. Ad litems are paid a higher flat rate for trials than they are for non-trial court ... Read More >
Criminal Complaint Filed Against Judge Alicia Franklin
This is a reprint from the September 9, 2014 Mongoose newsletter. Click here to read the criminal complaint I have filed with the Harris County District Attorney against Judge Alicia Franklin. The more I see of how Franklin billed the county in CPS cases and parents in her amicus cases, the less pity I feel for her. I know that at some point my perfect batting record in taking down elected judges for criminal behavior will fall below 100%, but this does not feel like the time when I will strike out. I do not know that Franklin has committed a crime, but I have found 100% provable facts that need to be looked into by someone other than Republican District Attorney Devon Anderson, who bungled the Judge Pratt investigation and then made a "sweet heart" deal with Pratt that allowed her to avoid criminal prosecution. Click here to read a motion filed by a District Attorney who wisely recused herself and asked for appointment of a prosecutor pro tem under Texas Code of Criminal ... Read More >
Enos Schools County Auditor and Harangues County Judge Emmett
This is a reprint from the September 3, 2014 Mongoose newsletter. Lawyers are stealing tax payer dollars and the system in place at Harris County allows it. Here are the problems: 1. A paper based system from the 1950's is still in use. Lawyers fill out the pay vouchers by hand, the judges sign the vouchers and then they go to the County Auditor, who pays the amounts approved by the judges, no questions asked. 2. A judge, who may approve dozens of pay vouchers a week, cannot see what an attorney is billing in other cases in that same court or in other courts. 3. No one until me ever took a mass of vouchers from one single attorney and extracted the fees charged on all cases for a particular day to see what the attorney is billing the county for on that day. This is how Alicia Franklin got busted billing 23.5 hours in one day. If I can "audit" vouchers, why can't the County Auditor? 4. The real problem is that no one has any incentive to closely monitor the CPS pay ... Read More >
Alicia Franklin Scandal – County Five: Falsely Asking to be “Re-Elected”
This is a reprint from the September 3, 2014 Mongoose newsletter. Someone actually reads this little newsletter. Sherri Cothrun complained that Alicia Franklin was improperly using the phrase,"Re-Elect Alicia Franklin" on her website, but the naive Chronicle editor thought Cothrun was just being picky and "hyper technical." Franklin apparently saw no need to change her web site after their Monday meeting with the Houston Chronicle editorial board. However, after my newsletter that pointed this "re-elect versus keep" problem out was published last Thursday, Franklin quickly changed her website. Franklin's problem is that it was simply not true and it was unethical for her to ask to be "re-elected" if she has never been elected in the first place. I checked with the Commission on Judicial Conduct and confirmed that an appointed judge cannot use the phrase ... Read More >
Alicia Franklin Scandal – County Four: Billing for Non-Lawyer Tasks Such as “Post Office Runs”
This is a reprint from the September 3, 2014 Mongoose newsletter. Alicia Franklin billed the county for one hour of work on May 6, 2014 in Cause No. 2014-02035J for "prepare letter to client, prepare to mail and post office run." In Cause No. 2008-02442J, Franklin billed a quarter of an hour twice for "post office run" on April 10 and May 19, 2014. Attorneys simply do not bill their clients for running to the post office and Harris County tax payers should not be charged for such work either. On May 1, 2014, Franklin billed the county in Cause No. 2013-41503 a quarter of an hour to e-file a document. She did the same thing on May 7, 2014 in Cause No. 2013-39931 when she charged a quarter of an hour for "e-filed affidavit." Again, this is something clerical staff do in most law offices and I have never heard of lawyers billing clients for that sort of work. Franklin also billed the county frequently for merely printing documents, something attorneys or their clerical staff ... Read More >
Alicia Franklin Scandal – Count Three: Accepting A Campaign Contribution from a Party to a Case She Was The Amicus Attorney On
This is a reprint of the September 3, 2014 Mongoose newsletter. My first published book might not be set in London in the Spring of 1881 after all. It could well be about Judge Franklin and her predecessor, Judge Pratt. I have more than enough information to fill a book. Click here to read about this truly too-sleazy-to-believe scenario: an amicus attorney appointed to represent a child in a nasty custody case decides to run for judge and accepts a large campaign contribution from a party to the case. Sadly, Alicia Franklin, is the protagonist in this wretched story as well. Ms. Franklin was appointed an amicus attorney for a young boy in a hotly contested custody case by Judge Lisa Millard in case no. 2012-04106 on April 20, 2012. This case involved parents and grandparents. On October 15, 2013, Ms. Franklin and the grandparents' attorney filed a joint motion for enforcement against the mother for not obeying a court order on visitation. It is extremely unusual for an ... Read More >
Alicia Franklin Scandal – Count Two: Billing for CPS Work After She Became Judge
This is a reprint from the September 3, 2014 Mongoose newsletter. Here is a shocker: judges cannot practice law! There is a specific provision in the Texas Canons of Judicial Ethics, Canon 4(G) that says a judge cannot practice law. It would also apparently shock and surprise some that it is illegal to bill the county for work you did not do. So, taking those two basic principles in mind, consider this: Judge Franklin, after she was sworn into office as a judge, submitted a pay voucher to the county for lawyer work on a CPS case done after she became a judge. Moreover, Franklin tried to mislead the Houston Chronicle editorial board last week in replying to this allegation by telling them that she started work on the bench on June 18, 2014. Franklin knew she had to tell the editors that she started work on June 18 because she had submitted a handwritten invoice for CPS work signed by her on June 17 for legal work she had done on June 13, 16 and 17, including one hour ... Read More >
Alicia Franklin Scandal – Count One: Submitting CPS Pay Vouchers That Simply Cannot Be True
This is a reprint from the September 3, 2014 Mongoose newsletter. This is a long article and my proof consists of many pages of pay vouchers that Alicia Franklin submitted the month before she became a judge. Click here to read my complete, 19 page article: "Alicia Franklin Submitted CPS Pay Vouchers That Simply Cannot Be True." This article includes my legal explanation of why knowingly submitting a false CPS pay voucher to the county for payment is a crime. Here is the executive summary of my article: Attorneys, like Alicia Franklin, appointed by judges to represent abused children or their parents in CPS cases, must sign the pay vouchers they submit to the county. In the family courts, the vouchers say that they are submitted "under penalty of perjury." I looked at four consecutive work days in May 2014 and pulled her charges for those days from dozens of pay vouchers submitted by Franklin. I then added up the hours she billed for each day. Here is what I found Franklin ... Read More >