PLEASE REMEMBER: A great place to find (and usually the first place to look) for the answer to your question should be the manuals available on ADI’s website. The Claims Manual outlines the guidelines for compensation. The Appointed Counsel Guidebook and California Criminal Appellate Practice Manual provide general information about panel administration, as well as appellate practice procedure. Additionally, the California Criminal Appellate Practice Manual has a significant amount of substantive law; it is a great resource for getting quick answers to general legal questions or major cases from which to begin research. As many questions can be answered in these manuals, please use them as your primary resource. ADI staff is happy to discuss with you any question that cannot be answered in a manual.

For LEGAL QUESTIONS ABOUT APPOINTED CASES, please contact the assigned staff attorney. Keep in mind that 4 hours of assistance time is deemed reasonable for the usual Assisted case, and 2 hours of assistance time is deemed reasonable for the usual Independent case. Staff attorneys are happy to serve as sounding boards and to brainstorm with you about a given case. Also, please remember that staff attorneys should always be contacted before raising an ineffective assistance of counsel claim and before bringing a habeas petition.

For ADMINISTRATIVE QUESTIONS ABOUT A PARTICULAR CASE, please contact the Terminal Digit Paralegal assigned to your case. Cases are assigned by the terminal digit of the case number.

Terminal Digit 1: Melia Wasserman
Terminal Digits 2, 3, 4: Din Villa
Terminal Digits 5, 6, 7: Jennifer Robeson
Terminal Digits 8, 9, 0: Michelle Pena
Supreme Court Cases: Melia Wasserman

For legal questions about cases for which you are not appointed by the Court of Appeal, feel free to call 619-696-0282 and ask for the dependency or criminal ATTORNEY OF DAY.

For assistance in handling disagreements with the assigned staff attorney, you may contact the PANEL OMBUDSMEN: Contact Neil Auwarter at nfa@adi-sandiego.com or call (619) 696-0284, ext. 27, or Cindi Mishkin at cbm@adi-sandiego.com or call (619) 696-0284, ext. 55. Neil and Cindi are available to assist attorneys who have gripes, seek guidance with a problem, have questions, experience difficulties with another staff attorney, or for other reasons need special advice. Please see “Panel Ombudsman” page under “PANEL ABCs” for additional information.