Spreadsheet checks before running Attorney Fee in Philippines

What the checker catches

Before you run an Attorney Fee calculation in the Philippines, DocketMath’s spreadsheet checker helps you verify that the numbers you’re about to calculate won’t break (or silently mislead) your inputs in the attorney-fee spreadsheet workflow.

In attorney-fee work, the most common mistakes aren’t usually “wrong legal theory”—they’re spreadsheet mechanics. Typical culprits include missing fields, inconsistent dates, currency/number formatting problems, and a fee model toggle that doesn’t match the calculator route your sheet is using.

Use the checklist below to understand what the checker is designed to catch in a PH-focused worksheet that feeds DocketMath’s attorney-fee calculator.

Spreadsheet issues the checker flags (PH)

• No principal amount / claim value

  • No agreed basis (for example: contractual-style vs. a different computation basis)
  • No date parameters if your sheet expects them
  • Filing date later than the related event date (timeline inversion)
  • Settlement/termination date entered in the wrong column
  • Text dates stored as strings (e.g., "03/01/2025" treated as text instead of a true date value)
  • Amount entered in a format the sheet doesn’t expect (e.g., 50,000 vs. 50,000.00)
  • A currency label exists, but the numeric cell is still formatted as text (so formulas treat it like a string)
  • Percentages entered at the wrong scale (e.g., 20 when the sheet expects 0.20)
  • Commas included in numeric cells without consistent locale/number handling (e.g., 1,000,000 typed in a way that becomes text)
  • The sheet indicates one fee basis in one row, but another basis is referenced by the calculator mapping (so the same “scenario” is interpreted differently across steps)
  • Extremely small/large values that cause rounding to dominate results
  • Negative inputs (often caused by sign conventions in “net of payments” columns)
  • Dragged formulas referencing the wrong row range
  • Header rows moved, leaving formulas pointed to the wrong fields

How output changes when issues are fixed

When the checker finds an issue, you’ll usually see one or more of these effects after you correct it:

• The calculator becomes enabled (or stops returning blank/error-like outputs)
• The computed fee changes because corrected units/dates change how the spreadsheet logic routes the calculation
• Rounding shifts from “wrong place” to “expected place” (for example, once you fix percentage scale or number/currency formatting)

In practice, many “the result is wrong” complaints end up being spreadsheet hygiene problems (type mismatches, date order, or basis toggles), not substantive disagreements about how a model should be applied.

When to run it

Run the checker at points in your workflow where a small input error would have an outsized impact—especially before you trust the output and before you share it.

Run the checker before importing a spreadsheet into the Attorney Fee workflow. It is especially helpful when you have multiple entries or when a teammate provided the inputs.

Best timing (repeatable workflow)

1. Right after you populate the spreadsheet

   • After importing numbers (from OCR, exports, or prior calculations)
   • Before you start editing fee-related cells
2. After you change any mapping assumptions

   • Example triggers:

     • switching the fee basis
     • adjusting date fields
     • updating the principal/claim value from a new computation
3. Before exporting or copy-pasting totals

   • Especially when totals will be used for emails, summaries, or internal review

Quick decision rule

• If you changed any input cell that feeds the attorney-fee calculator: run the checker again.
• If you only changed formatting (colors, column width, labels) without changing values: you can usually skip rerunning.

Try the checker

You can test the workflow end-to-end using DocketMath.

1. Open the calculator:

   • Primary CTA: Run Attorney Fee (PH) in DocketMath
2. Paste or align your spreadsheet-derived values with the calculator’s expected inputs.
3. Run the spreadsheet checker step (the tool’s preflight checks).
4. Fix any flagged cells and rerun until the checker shows a clean pass.

What to enter (inputs that commonly matter)

Use these as your “sanity anchors” when preparing your PH attorney-fee spreadsheet data:

• Principal / claim value

  • Ensure it’s a numeric value (not text)
  • Confirm the scale matches your sheet (e.g., not mixing “thousands” with “pesos”)
• Fee basis indicator

  • Make sure the row/toggle you select matches the formula route your sheet uses
• Any date fields

  • Use true spreadsheet dates (not text strings)
  • Keep chronological order consistent with your scenario timeline

Quick checks before you click

Interpreting common checker outputs

Here’s how to respond when the checker flags an issue:

Related reading

• Worked example: attorney fee calculations in Vermont — Worked example with real statute citations
• Attorney Fees Guide for Alaska
• Attorney Fees Guide for American Samoa