I’m still not thrilled about this.
Harris County commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to add another law firm to the county’s court fight against bail reform, a group whose job will be representing 16 county criminal judges who were recently added to a pending federal civil rights lawsuit.
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Records show Harris County already has paid another law firm, Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP, $169,464 for six lawyers who have worked defending the county against the ODonnell civil case through July, according to a bill obtained through an open records request. Those bills included 113 hours of work by lead attorney Katharine David, who has charged $525 per hour, and 64 hours of work by Mike Stafford, a former Harris County attorney, who charges $610 per hour, according to new details released Tuesday.
So far, the county’s lawyers for the case have charged for, among other things, meeting with the county’s own hearing officers who set bond via video hearings, as well as sheriff’s officials, the 16 judges, the district attorney and other county officials. They’ve also drafted replies and motions in so far unsuccessful attempts to get the case dismissed, according to records obtained from the county attorney Tuesday.
Commissioners voted Tuesday to add another firm, Winston & Strawn LLP, to represent criminal county court at law judges.
Those judges were recently added as defendants to the case, which originally named the sheriff, hearing officers and the county as defendants. Precinct 4 Commissioner Jack Cagle pointed out he was voting in favor because the county attorney recommended approving the additional counsel.
“With the large number of people and entities being sued by the plaintiffs, there is the possibility of a conflict of interest,” said Robert Soard, first assistant county attorney. “Because of the possibility of a conflict and at the request of the judges, the Office of the County Attorney and Commissioners Court decided to retain separate counsel for the judges.”
Soard said the firm is assigning four lawyers to work on the matter and as agreed to charge $450 per hour with a cap of $40,000.
See here for the background. Again, I don’t have a specific objection to hiring outside counsel, and I agree that there could be a conflict of interest for an attorney who was representing, say, both the judges and the Sheriff’s office. But seriously, this lawsuit needs to be settled, like yesterday. This is a mess that the judges have created, and it needs to be fixed as expeditiously as possible. Fighting this lawsuit in court cannot be an option and should not be something that we the taxpayers are asked to support.