In 2012, the federal courts created a web-based program called eVoucher that requires federally court-appointed attorneys (CJA Attorneys) to enter billing slips into a web-based program to submit statements for payment. eVouchers was rolled out to the District of Oregon after one bill was beta tested on one case by me.
From the very beginning, I knew there had to be a better way.
CJA Attorneys can’t rely on keeping their data only in eVoucher because the program often loses data. If the only place billing is recorded is in eVoucher, you need to be prepared to donate a large quantity of time to the Government when that data is lost. Most lawyers I know continued to use their preferred billing systems, and then wasted hours of time to re-enter all the data into eVoucher.
I worked with a computer programmer friend to develop a better plan that would allow export from my billing program, Billings Pro, and directly upload it to eVoucher. Although we came up with a bandaid solution, it was very fragile and worked on precisely one kind of data on precisely one machine: Mine. Great for me, but not the robust solution I’d hoped to share with my colleagues.
In late 2018, I partnered with Braided Data Solutions, an innovator in the legal services space who offers large scale redaction of discovery to law firms, amongst other products. Together we built evolveVouchers. From the beginning, my primary guiding principle has been data security and confidentiality. evolveVouchers meets my every expectation.
A simple, elegant downloadable application that keeps your data on your machine. Log in and the application begins its magic. Your data stays as confidential and secure as though you’d painstakingly reentered it into eVoucher yourself. Only you didn’t. You worked smarter, not harder.
100% Panel Attorney Owned
In late 2020, we parted ways with Braided as they began to focus on their redaction products. evolveVoucher is now 100%CJA Panel Attorney owned and operated. We know what you need, because it’s what we need: a hassle free way to bill CJA cases and get back to the work at hand, whether that is more work, or something we’d prefer to be doing with our free time.
In 2024, in response to updates in both the functionality (or lack thereof) of eVoucher and changes in technology, we rebuilt the application from the ground up to ensure better slip handling, data confirmation prior to upload, increased security for both your billing slips and your credit card data, and built in help menus.
What’s up with the bird?
The US Government uses the American Eagle on the eVoucher website. I wanted something that felt familiar, but represented the next step, the smarter step. The Athenian Owl, long a symbol of knowledge and wisdom, is also a symbol of having great insight. Displayed on the most valuable coin in Athenian society, we hope evolveVoucher becomes the most valuable tool in billing your CJA cases.
Conclusion
Getting paid for the difficult work we do should not be the burdensome piece of our practices. Now it doesn’t have to be.
I designed evolveVoucher to be the improved, evolved, version of eVoucher… Easy, efficient, and effortless. Give it a try, and send me an email to let me know what you think.
-Laurie Shertz,
Designer, evolveVoucher, CJA Attorney
answers@evolvevoucher.com