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CC - CONSENT ITEM: (1) Approval of Amendments to Existing Legal Services Agreements with Burke, Williams & Sorensen, LLP, Goldfarb & Lipman LLP, Olson Remcho LLP, and Tally & Talley Law, APC to Allow for Services on an As-Needed Basis Within Approved Legal Services Budgeted Amounts for Applicable Fiscal Years; and (2) Authorization to the City Attorney to Approve Agreements with Additional Firms on an As-Needed Basis Within Approved Legal Services Budgeted Amounts for Applicable Fiscal Years.
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Meeting Date: November 11, 2024
Contact Person/Dept: Heather Baker, City Attorney
Phone Number: 310-253-5660
Fiscal Impact: Yes [X] No [] General Fund: Yes [X] No []
Public Hearing: [] Action Item: [] Attachments: []
Commission Action Required: Yes [] No [X] Date:
Public Notification: (E-Mail) Meetings and Agendas - City Council (11/07/2024)
Department Approval: Heather Baker (11/05/2024)
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RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends the City Council (1) approve amendments to the existing legal services agreements with Burke, Williams & Sorensen, LLP, Goldfarb & Lipman LLP, Olson Remcho LLP, and Tally & Talley Law, APC to allow services on an as-needed basis within the budgeted amount for legal services approved by City Council for the applicable fiscal year; and (2) authorize the City Attorney to approve agreements with additional firms on an as-needed basis within the budgeted amount for legal services approved by City Council for the applicable fiscal year.
BACKGROUND
The City Attorney’s Office is an in-house operation that provides a significant variety of legal services. The Office is comprised of five attorneys, two paralegals, and one administrative clerk. Pursuant to Section 901 of the City Charter, in the course of performing their duties, the City Attorney has the authority to employ other attorneys to handle litigation or provide other assistance as required by the City Attorney. Although the Office provides the majority of legal services to the City Council and City Departments related to issues facing the City, there are certain legal functions which the Office does not have the capacity to handle on a regular basis, such as representation in specialized litigation matters; including, but not limited to, tort (trip and fall, etc.), employment, and police defense cases, for which the Office retains and works with outside counsel.
Over the last few years, the City Attorney’s Office has worked diligently and taken measures to bring more services in-house, including the addition of a fifth attorney in the Adopted Budget for Fiscal Year 2024-2025, and the conversion of two staff positions to paralegal positions. However, there will continue to be issues and litigation that arise, which require consultation with attorneys who have specific expertise in certain areas, such as First Amendment, employment, environmental, telecommunications and tax law.
The City Attorney’s Office uses a core group of more than a dozen law firms that can be relied upon to provide consistent, high quality, legal representation of the City’s and community’s interests. The volume of firms available to provide needed services ensures competitive rates, and provides the Office with the ability to consider cost, among other factors, when selecting a firm for a particular issue or litigation matter. The combination of the City’s in-house legal services, with outside counsel for specific tasks and expertise, is a model commonly used by in-house city attorney’s offices. This continues to be an efficient and productive system.
DISCUSSION
In 2006 and 2017, the City Attorney’s Office was authorized to amend agreements with several of its law firms on an “as-needed” basis, rather than having agreements with a maximum amount of compensation, to address the specialized needs of the Office. At those times, the City Council recognized that, in order to facilitate the handling of legal issues, the City Attorney needs to have flexibility in managing outside counsel through the use of on-going legal services contracts, and the authority to retain legal counsel as necessary pursuant to the overall direction of the City Council.
Although a majority of the existing legal services agreements are now on an as-needed basis, the agreements with several firms are still established with a maximum compensation amount. Currently, the following firms were previously approved by City Council to have as-needed agreements:
• Aleshire & Wynder
• Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Rudd & Romo
• Best Best & Krieger
• Buchalter Nemer
• Carpenter, Rothans & Dumont
• Colantuono, Highsmith & Whatley
• Dapeer Rosenblit & Litvak
• Kane, Ballmer & Berkman
• Liebert Cassidy Whitmore
• McCune & Harber
• Meyers Nave
• Olson Remcho
• Richards Watson & Gershon
Consistent with the City Council’s previous direction, the City Attorney’s Office is requesting that the existing legal services agreements with the remaining firms it currently utilizes, Burke, Williams & Sorensen, LLP, Goldfarb & Lipman LLP, Olson Remcho LLP, and Tally & Talley Law, APC, be amended to authorize services on an as-needed basis, within the available legal services budget approved by City Council for the applicable fiscal year.
In addition, the City Attorney’s Office is seeking authority to enter into agreements with additional firms on an as-needed basis, in order to effectively meet the needs of the Office and the City Council in addressing legal issues and litigation in a timely manner.
As discussed further below, the funds spent on legal services have a budgetary cap established each fiscal year and approved by the City Council. It should also be noted that these professional services are exempt from formal bidding requirements, pursuant to Culver City Municipal Code Section 3.07.065.
FISCAL ANALYSIS
The funding for legal services is budgeted in the City Attorney’s operating budget and the City’s Liability Reserve Fund. The Liability Reserve Fund (Fund 309) is used for litigation and pre-litigation defense and, as an Internal Service Fund, is supported by allocations from each City Department. City Attorney expenditures under this fund can be found under City Attorney - Risk (30913400) on page 165 of the Adopted Budget for Fiscal Year 2024-2025. The City Attorney’s operating budget covers expenses for legal assistance including, but not limited to, transactional work, litigation initiated by the City as a plaintiff, advisory opinions and investigations. These expenditure budgets can be found in Account Nos. 10113100.611200 (Legal Services - Personnel), 10113100.611300 (Legal Services - Land Use), and 10113100.611600 (Legal Services - Miscellaneous) on page 164 of the budget book.
At this time, the City Attorney’s Office is not requesting an increase beyond those amounts identified in its Legal Services line items, as approved in the Adopted Budget for Fiscal Year 2024-2025. In future years, the utilization of legal services by the City Attorney’s Office would also be limited to those amounts identified in the approved budget for each fiscal year.
ATTACHMENTS
None.
MOTION
That the City Council:
1. Approve an amendment to the existing legal services agreements with Burke, Williams & Sorensen, LLP, Goldfarb & Lipman LLP, Olson Remcho LLP, and Tally & Talley Law, APC to allow services on an as-needed basis within the available legal services budget approved by City Council for the applicable fiscal year;
2. Authorize the City Attorney to approve agreements with additional firms on an as-needed basis within the available legal services budget approved by City Council for the applicable fiscal year;
3. Authorize the City Attorney to review/prepare the necessary documents; and,
4. Authorize the City Manager to execute such documents on behalf of the City.