School system legal bills top $260K
So far this year, the Lafayette Parish School System has paid a total of $264,612 for legal services to five different law firms.
The bulk of that amount — $152,300 — has gone to the firm of Hammonds, Sills, Adkins and Guice for services provided between November 2013 and October 2014.
The second-largest chunk, $89,530, is being paid to Phelps Dunbar for its work on a school board-ordered investigation of former Superintendent Pat Cooper, litigation involving Cooper and his termination proceedings.
Under a long-standing agreement with the 15th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, the school board for years used an assistant district attorney free of charge to represent the board and work with system officials on many matters. Hammonds and Sills was used occasionally for more detailed or more complex work.
Under that arrangement, according to 2012-2013 budget documents, the district allocated about $70,000 for legal services.
In November 2013, the board voted to discontinue using the assistant district attorney, and went with Hammonds and Sills fulltime.
Invoices show that, as a part-time firm, Hammonds and Sills’ monthly bills to the school system were all less than $5,300. Since it moved into a full-time role, the costs have increased, ranging from about $15,000 to $20,000 per month.
State law allows firms to charge up to $175 per hour for attorney services. In some instances, the fee is $150 per hour and is typically around $75 per hour for paralegal work.
Records show that Hammonds and Sills lawyers conduct a variety of routine duties for both the school board and district employees. The work includes phone conferences, attending meetings, travel to and from meetings and court proceedings, legal research, reviews of contracts and consultation on special education matters.
As for Phelps Dunbar, records show that the firm sent the school system one invoice for $25,586 for representing the board when Cooper filed a civil injunction seeking to have three board members prevented from voting in his termination hearing. The same injunction sought to have the district use 50 percent of last year’s budget. A district judge denied both of Cooper’s requests.
As part of its work on the suit, attorneys conducted legal research, drafted numerous briefs and other court documents, met with attorneys and defendants, and analyzed several documents associated with the injunction request.
The second invoice for Phelps Dunbar totaled $63,944 for its investigation of Cooper, and preparations for his disciplinary hearing. The work included meeting with board members, legal research, reviewing notes, emails and other documents; assembling information from meetings and interviews, preparing an investigative report, travel to meetings and other work.
The other legal fees dealt largely with employment matters, such as workers’ compensation issues.
Because the legal costs have come in higher than expected, Chief Financial Officer Billy Guidry said his office plans to ask for a budget revision early next year. The school board had budgeted $183,000 for legal services for the 2014-15 fiscal year.
The board is expected to continue using Phelps Dunbar in ongoing cases. The board is appealing a district judge’s ruling that documents pertaining to the Cooper investigation are public records. The Daily Advertiser had filed a case in civil court for such records after officials originally declined to produce them. Blunt is listed as the board’s attorney in that case.
Cooper has also filed a wrongful termination suit against the board in district court. No court dates have been set, and no attorney is listed as representing the board.
Lafayette Parish School System 2014 legal bills:
Brian Blackwell: $15,292
Borne and Wilkes: $1,116
Breaud and Meyers: $6,504
Phelps Dunbar: $89,530
Hammonds, Sills, Adkins and Guice: $152,300