During 1997, the Legal Services Corporation ("LSC or Corporation") Board of Directors published 16 regulations in final form. Ten of these regulations contain a requirement that a recipient maintain written policies and or procedures to guide staff in complying with the regulations. Further, six regulations require that recipients maintain, in addition to policies and or procedures, certain records which are not specified in the regulations.

This memorandum is to inform you that, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 2996g(b), the Corporation is hereby prescribing effective January 30, 1998, certain specific recordkeeping, as described in the attached requirements and forms. All records outlined in the attachments to this memorandum must be retained for five years. The recordkeeping requirements are mandatory. The recipients must either use the attached forms or other forms approved by your auditor. If auditor approved forms are used, they must include all categories of information as set forth in the attached forms, as all information on the attached forms in mandatory. Further, recipients are reminded of the Corporation's authority to solicit additional information relevant to oversight, and therefore, LSC may request documentation beyond that outlined in the attachments.

Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 2996g(b), the Corporation is hereby prescribing that closed client files also be retained for five years. If the law of your State requires the retention of closed client files for a period of less than five years, you are to follow the Corporation's five year retention period. If the law of your state requires more than five years, then you should follow the law of your state.

Further, the Corporation reminds recipients that in 1996, the LSC's 1996 Appropriations Act Pub-L-104-134, 110 Stat.1321 (April 26, 1996), required LSC recipients to make available a wide range of records to any independent auditor or monitor receiving Federal funds who is conducting auditing or monitoring, including any auditor or monitor of the Corporation. This requirement has been continued in subsequent appropriations acts and is currently in force. Thus, all documentation and forms pertaining to the attached recordkeeping requirements should be made available to Corporation staff, and to any authorized auditor or monitor.

Thank you for your immediate attention to these requirements.

Instructions by Regulation

Also available formatted for printing as a single Acrobat PDF file at: Program Letter 97-10-30 (PDF) with Attachments

• 45 C.F.R. § 1609.4

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• 45 C.F.R. § 1612.10

• 45 C.F.R. § 1612.6

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• 45 C.F.R. § 1617.4

• 45 C.F.R. § 1620.7

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• 45 C.F.R. § 1626.12

• 45 C.F.R. § 1627.8

• 45 C.F.R. § 1633.4

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• 45 C.F.R. § 1636.5

• 45 C.F.R. § 1637.5

• 45 C.F.R. § 1642.6