Frequently Asked Questions

Each year, almost all Maryland lawyers successfully submitted their Pro Bono Service Report and IOLTA Compliance Report through this web based on-line system. However, it is possible that some lawyers might experience a difficulty submitting on-line due to many reasons, such as a common mistake of entering wrong data, a wide variety of many system configurations, on-line security add-ons, etc.

We are trying to address a few comments that we received in previous years as follows:

Question 1.   I get  "You must provide a valid number of hours" error message when I try to submit the report. What should I do?

Answer: Some of the questions require specific format. For example, answers to Question 1.a. through Question 1.d. of the Pro Bono Service Report need to be numeric and less than 3,000 and no text format (including a space) is accepted. When you click "OK", the cursor leads you back to the field that caused the problem allowing you to edit your answer.

Question 2.   I get  error messages, such as "HTTP 500 - Internal server error" or “80040e21 Multiple-step OLE DB operation generated errors”, when I try to submit the report. What should I do?

Answer: If you get error message, please check your answer to your answers to Question on your primary practice area when you select "Other", and to Question 3B of the pro bono report - the free-text field for describing certain types of activity performed in furtherance of the legal system. Please make sure that your responses are short. Note your answers can not be longer than 25 characters on the primary practice area question and 250 characters, including spaces, on Question 3B.

This error message can be also issued when a client tries to insert a new record through a client-side recordset into a SQL Server table that has a non-nullable datetime field with a default value. Make sure that the automated date field is showing correctly.

"HTTP 500 - Internal server error" message is a general error massage and has a number of causes due to many different system configurations. The error can be caused by the cache in the browser as well, or  submission of data that do not meet the required format of the question. If the error message does not disappear, please follow the instructions below:

1. Go to "Tools" menu in the Explorer;

2. Select "Internet Options";

3. Click "Advanced" tab and clear "Show Friendly HTTP Error Messages" check box under "Browsing"; and

4. Try submitting the report. 

When other error messages come up, copy the error message and e-mail the detailed error message to us at anasys-apr@anasys-apr.com.

Question 3. I use Firefox or Safari, and I experience a problem trying to access and submit the IOLTA report. What should I do?

Answer: If you happen to use the Firefox or Safari and experience a problem, please try again with Explorer.

If your problem persists, please download the report forms and mail in following the mailing instructions. Thank you for your patience.