The “Money Savers” Team Awarded The Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Certification

Ita M. Neymotin Regional Counsel, Second District & The “Money Savers” Team – First of Fifty Agencies Under The Umbrella of The Justice Administrative Commission To Be Awarded The Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Certification.

Redesign of Capital Case Management Process

RC2 “Money Savers” team in consultation with RC2 Homicide Chief Byron Hileman and RC2 Homicide Managing Attorney Chris Boldt is proposing a Cross Jurisdictional Death Penalty Program to show how the program will provide death penalty representation at reduced costs and save taxpayer dollars, when compared with private registry counsel, while still ensuring client representation is adequate and is not diminished in effectiveness; and, creating death penalty litigation teams for the state of Florida.

The cost of a death penalty case can vary from $100,000 to close to $2.1 million. The largest expense in death penalty litigation is usually attorney labor. Assigning death penalty cases to RC2 attorneys who are receiving a set salary eliminates the uncapped private registry attorney labor resulting in significant cost savings to the state of Florida.

The Justice Administrative Commission (JAC) pays attorney labor and due process costs for death penalty cases litigated by private registry counsel. JAC’s records show a high number of death penalty registry fees paid throughout the state of Florida. Additional factors were accessibility, economy, and the unlikelihood of a conflict of interest. Hence, the more that death penalty cases can be handled in-house by RC2 attorneys, the more taxpayer dollars can be saved.

The cycle times in death penalty cases of RC2 were also a great deal lower when compared to private registry attorneys in the same type of cases. The “Money Savers” team analyzed the prospective effectiveness of this program using the Lean Six Sigma DMADV methodology and statistical tools.

The ets Lean Six Sigma Black Belt program is designed to identify the costs of inefficiencies and ineffectiveness within organizations in need of new or redesigned processes to guide and support the performance improvement and budgetary goals of their agency. Emphasis is placed on leadership processes including Organizational Assessments, Key Performance Indicators, Strategic Planning, Work Systems, and advanced Lean Six Sigma statistical tools. Black Belt candidates are expected to demonstrate competency through the application of knowledge to a strategic priority from their organizations.

The team utilized ets’ version of the 5-Step DMADV Design for Lean Six Sigma methodology. The RC2 team did a public records request to assess the amount of taxpayer dollars paid to private death penalty attorneys on the registry. The problem/impact was the excessive taxpayer dollars incurred by private registry attorneys for handling of death penalty eligible cases. The team will develop an enhanced capital case defense process. The impact will be achieved through the reduction of cases handled by the private registry attorneys and savings of taxpayer dollars with more cases handled by RC2. The Expected Benefits include saving the state of Florida millions of taxpayer dollars by streamlining litigation of death penalty eligible cases outside of RC2 jurisdiction. The team identified stakeholder process output needs using SIPOC (Suppliers, Inputs, Process Steps, Outputs, and Customers) Analysis.

The “Money Savers” team used SWOT and Measurement System Analysis to compile a scorecard of KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) to assess overall RC2 performance, eliminate waste, and measure the Costs of Poor Quality for private registry attorneys handling death penalty eligible cases. The “Money Savers” team also put together a budget for the proposed Cross Jurisdictional Death Penalty Program.

Ita M. Neymotin, Regional Counsel of the Office of Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel, Second District Court of Appeal, met with the Executive Director to the CF Foundation at the College of Central Florida and discussed the Cross Jurisdictional Death Penalty Program, the Criminal Justice Program, Paralegal Program, and Internships that could be offered through this partnership. This partnership would provide internships for students and a home for the Cross Jurisdictional Death Penalty Program. The Public Policy Institute of Marion County is also housed at the CF Foundation at the College of Central Florida and could be approached to complete a study on the savings of this proposed program. The RC2 team is working on a statewide application of the Cross Jurisdictional Death Penalty Program.

Office of Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel Second District Court of Appeal, Florida

RC2 is pleased to announce The Florida Bar President, Dori Foster-Morales, has appointed Regional Counsel Ita M. Neymotin as Chair of the Committee on Professionalism. Ms. Neymotin oversees 14 counties within the Second District Court of Appeal and manages 140 attorneys and staff. In addition to being Regional Counsel, she began her new voluntary appointed position July 1, 2020, and will hold the post through June 30, 2021.

Ms. Neymotin was appointed by Governor Rick Scott in 2011 and confirmed by the full Florida Senate. When Ms. Neymotin was appointed at age 38, she was the youngest attorney and the first appointed female to hold a position as Regional Counsel in the state of Florida. Ms. Neymotin was appointed by the chief judge of the Twentieth Judicial Circuit to chair the Professionalism Panel for the past five years. In addition, Ms. Neymotin has worked tirelessly as a member of the Standing Committee of Professionalism by helping to educate attorneys on the “Ideas and Goals of Professionalism.” The function of the committee is to assist the Henry T. Latimer Center for Professionalism in implementing programs, events, and activities to promote professionalism throughout the state. In her role as Chair, Ms. Neymotin has championed other licensed attorneys in the state of Florida to advance professionalism and civility in the practice of law.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT

Office of Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel, Second District Court of Appeal
Ms. Diana Golden, Administrative Director
Tel: 239-208-6925
dgolden@flrc2.org

Electronic Training Solutions
Mr. Bob Seemer, Performance Improvement Consultant, Coach and Trainer
Tel: 321-636-2212
rseemer@etsfl.com
www.etsfl.com