« Ind. Law - More on Canned deer hunting preserves | Main | Ind. Gov't. - Failure to submit paperwork to Indiana Public Defender Commission costly to many counties, including Marion »

Sunday, February 12, 2006

Ind. Law - Allen County examines legal fees [Updated]

A story today in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette by Benjamin Lanka is headlined "County examines legal fees: Bills of $800,000 a year spur search for alternatives." Some quotes from the long story:

Spending more than $800,000 on attorney fees each of the last two years has some Allen County officials looking to Fort Wayne Community Schools for an education.

According to data from the Allen County auditor, the county spent $816,317 on 14 attorneys last year. Bill Fishering, who represents the county, received $347,783 last year – more than any county employee earned. Of that money, $53,964 was paid to him in base salary. The remaining $293,819 was paid to Fishering’s firm, Beers, Mallers, Backs & Salin, for his work. As a partner in the firm, Fishering earns a percentage of its profits.

Those amounts have some members of the Allen County Council questioning how the county pays for its legal advice. They said hiring some attorneys to work full time for the county could reduce the total amount of money paid for lawyers.

Fort Wayne paid more than $1 million in attorney fees to 11 law firms plus more then $300,000 in salaries and benefits to its internal legal department. Members of the City Council, however, did not see an overwhelming reason to bring more attorneys in house.

Of the amount paid to attorneys by the county, $254,649 went to base salaries for eight attorneys. The rest was paid to many of the same attorneys for extra work, done mostly on an hourly basis. The county is billed $150 an hour for legal work. * * *

County Councilman Cal Miller, R-4th, said he is confident the county could find a set of attorneys to hire full time to deal with their issues and save money.

He cited the success Fort Wayne Community Schools had with such a move. In 2003, the district hired William Sweet of Beckman Lawson LLP for $250,000 a year to be its full-time attorney. Sweet had previously worked for the district on an hourly basis. The district determined it could save money by bringing him in and having him take over most of the legal work that was being outsourced. * * *

City Council President John Crawford, R-at large, said the council periodically looks at attorney staffing, but said he didn’t see a great chance for savings whether the city hired more in-house attorneys or not. “It’s always going to be a fairly high number when it’s all done,” he said. Crawford also said the city doesn’t want to get cheap legal advice if it means getting poor legal advice.

Of the $1 million spent by the city, the largest chunks went to Baker & Daniels – $355,970 – and Carson Boxberger – $301,111. The city’s total did not account for attorneys working for City Utilities. Tim Manges, city attorney, said the bulk of the city’s costs – like the county – go to defending lawsuits. He said there are typically 30 pending lawsuits at any one time and the city pays $125 to $150 an hour to defend them, depending on the firm. * * *

Despite the fact the attorneys are picked by politicians, county commissioners said politics plays no part in their selection. Many of the firms give political donations to the commissioners, mostly by participating in their annual golf outing.

Beers, Mallers, Backs & Salin gave each commissioner $333 last year, which Fishering said played no role in the fact the county paid $459,915, including base salaries given attorneys, last year and $1.2 million over the last three years for the firm’s attorneys. Not including base salaries, the county paid Fishering’s firm $356,659 last year. He said the political giving is so small, someone would have to be “nuttier than a fruitcake” to think it led to getting county work.

Here is a graphic from the story, showing the top recipients.

[Updated 2/14/06] Today's Journal Gazette has an editorial following up on Sunday's story. A quote:

Since 1961, when the county commissioners named legendary GOP Chairman Orvas Beers as county attorney, someone from the Beers firm has been named to the post. Fishering has held the position since 1984. Given the Republicans’ lock on county government, the appointment has been a matter of routine far too long.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 12, 2006 08:29 AM
Posted to Indiana Government | Indiana Law