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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2000-09-27 ad Hoc Town Counsel Review Committee MinutesLegal Services Review Committee Meeting September 27, 2000 The meeting convened at 8:00 p.m. in the Town Hall Conference Room, 16 Lowell Street, Reading, Massachusetts. Present were Chairman Camille Anthony, Members Tim Twomey, Stephen Crook, Jonathan Barnes, Town Manager Peter Hechenbleikner, Paul DeRensis, John Flynn, Kathryn Murphy, Gary Brackett, Joan Langsam, Ted Cohen, Barry Fogel, Cheryl Blaine, resident Kendra Cooper. Paul DeRensis from Deutsch Willliams et al was present. He was not able to be present for their interview at the previous meeting, and the Committee agreed to allow him to speak. Camille Anthony asked how they perceive their working relationship. DeRensis indicated that he does most of the work himself but in a firm of 40 lawyers, they use other counsel for specialized areas. He depends upon the personal relationship and judgment of those he works with and has a personal style. The firm exists to serve the town and to look out for the public interest. As a firm, they are committed to doing good deeds and good works. They represent the Nantucket Land Bank. DeRensis feels that he is sort of like the community doctor, with the role to be there and to take blame if necessary. He takes care that everything gets done right. He is backed up by 40 lawyers, and they have a 96% success rate in litigation. In Cohasset, they were fighting a landfill that had spent $lmillion in legal expenses prior to their being there, and were able to win 6 court cases on this matter. They have a strong labor component to the firm, and have many years of history with the Town of Reading in this regard. DeRensis worked for Ted Cohen in an insurance company that served the Town. The effective rate would have been $101 per hour versus $91 per hour. He recognizes that finances are an issue for the Town. Real estate and appellate tax board work are not included in the retainer. The retainer is higher than it might otherwise be because of the hours that Reading uses. If it turned out that $60,000 was too high a retainer after one year, they would renegotiate and reduce it. In Carlisle, their effective hourly rate is $58 per hour. There are several guiding principles that they use: (1) they want people to call before they make a mistake that can save a lot of money; (2) the annual budget is a break on expenditures. They don't "shop" work. When they get involved, they want to finalize a project and (3) if a client objects to a bill, they will write off that bill. It was asked if they would have office hours here in Town Hall; and the response was that they would do whatever the community wants. In Randolph, for example, they go to the Board of Selectmen Meetings. In Nantucket, they go to the Board of Selectmen Meetings every two weeks. Tim Twomey asked how they would contain legal costs, and DeRensis noted that they "ti- ' $ would give the right advice they do early intervention and a speedy resolution. Legal Services Review Committee Meeting - September 27, 2000 - Page 2 Jonathan Barnes asked about the number of attorneys in the municipal department. DeRensis noted that they have a lot of attorneys who double between municipal and other work including three in real estate, eight in litigation, two in zoning and two in appellate tax board. They also do retirement law work. DeRensis noted that they limit their practice to how many towns they can realistically handle this is because they have an intense and personal relationship with their clients. Reading is a logical community for them to work in because they have represented Reading in the past. They have a very high opinion of Reading and the kind of people employed by the Town. Camille Anthony asked if training is included in the retainer, and DeRensis noted that it was. This would include Boards, Committees and Commissions training and seminars on request. The firm feels that doing several communities makes for better efficiency they use e-mail a lot for communication. Camille Anthony thanked Paul DeRensis for his comments. Mushy, Hess, Toome&Lehane - John Flynn and Kathryn Murphy represented the firm before the Committee. Flynn noted that he would be the primary contact and he has worked for the firm since 1981. Kathryn Murphy's specialization is in personnel and employment law. As a firm, they have the ability to do anything that the Town needs. They do it quietly and promptly, and in a cost effective manner. They practice preventative law. They don't like to litigate but they have the expertise in litigation. Flynn represents Milton and Natick, and lives in Milton. Jonathan Barnes asked about the division of staff between Quincy and Boston. Flynn is in Quincy. They have office hours in Town Hall to do what is needed and contain and reduce hours and, therefore, cost. They find that training is good preventative law. They try to have requests go through the Chairman of the Board of Selectmen. They have 34 attorneys and 11 are partners. 50-55% of the practice is municipal law. Flynn noted that they are Town Counsel in all of the communities listed, and also do labor, school and retirement law. The firm started out as a municipal law firm. In response to a question, Flynn noted that the firm had lost Ashland and Dennis as municipal clients. In Natick and Milton, the firm does school law but not SPED although the firm does have a specialization in SPED law. They do not do a retainer in the newer communities. Milton and Natick have a similar number of hours as Reading. The transition period would not be billed, and they would expect to spend approximately 30 hours in the transition process, and training would be part of the transition. They use paralegals for real estate work and appellate tax board preparation. The price quote given was for the first year. The rates generally go up $5-10-15 per hour per year. They could do a three year cost proposal if the Town would like it. Jonathan Barnes asked about their experience in dealing with comprehensive permits, and Flynn noted that they have been dealing with them for a long time, and the activity in comprehensive permits is up and down. Leizal Services Review Committee Meeting=September 27, 2000 - Page 3 The Committee thanked Mr. Flynn and Ms. Murphy for their comments. Brackett & Lucas - Gary Brackett and Joan Langsam were present for the firm. Brackett noted that the principals in the firm do presentations before the MMA and the Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions. They practice law to improve client services to the citizens, and provide training and education in a number of areas including how to run meetings. They could set up office hours if the Town wants this. Tim Twomey asked what the relationship was between Joan Langsam and Brackett & Lucas. Langsam is Of Counsel, and 90% of the time the Town would deal with a single principal and that would be Joan Langsam. The relationship between Langsam and Brackett & Lucas has been placed for approximately one year. Brackett & Lucas would attend Town Meetings and deal with retirement law since that is the area of their specialization. They have in-house counsel in Watertown and in Worcester, they have developed considerable skills in these areas. Brackett & Lucas is a smaller firm and, therefore, more efficient. They were asked how they would deal with significant increases in workloads such as the Town of Reading, and it was noted that Joan Langsam would handle that workload. In response to a question about comparable communities, Joan Langsam was City Counsel in Somerville, and has done work in Chelsea, Hull, Belmont, Canton, Billerica and Westford. Some of this work has been as special counsel. Reading will be the only town with Joan Langsam as a primary contact. There are currently six counsels associated with the firm 4 in-house and 2 Of Counsel. Brackett & Lucas have added one community per year and would plan on doing that in the future. They have not had any situations where the community has failed to renew their appointment. They would use a case management plan to evaluate all cases, and would assign the case a completion date, and provide a check off for this. They would assist in decision writing for major Boards, Committees and Commissions. For the transition process, they would expect an exit memo from the counsel who is leaving. They can manage the Town of Reading with their existing staff. They have maintained their hourly rate, stayed within their budget, and have not had to use outside counsel in any of the communities that they represent. The most comparable community that they currently serve is Westford where the budget maximum is $80-90,000 per year. They also could provide labor counsel services, and would do school except for SPED which is better done outside. Camille Anthony thanked Mr. Brackett and Ms. Langsam for their comments. Keegan, Werlin & Pabian - Ted Cohen, Barry Fogel and Cheryl Blaine were present for the firm. Cohen noted that he has been with Keegan, Werlin & Pabian for three years, McGregor & Shea for three years prior to that, and with Tyler & Reynolds for 22 years before that. He has worked for the Town of Reading for 28 years. He understands that the Board of Selectmen is only interested in a straight outside counsel, and has proposed $115,000 for 1100 hours of work, and then $150 per hour for work beyond that. 4 Legal Services Review Committee Meeting - September 27, 2000 - Page 4 Cohen has always done everything to represent the town, and is somewhat of a perfectionist. He tries to keep strict controls on legal expenses. He has been meeting monthly with the Town Manager, and periodically with the Board of Selectmen. He prefers very close communication. Litigation that the Town brings is easier to control while litigation from others is harder to control. Litigation does not require a lot of activity. The firm has lots of expertise with the Town. Because of this, they are very efficient in how they handle the Town, and how they are able to prepare for cases. Using the new method for charging for services, based on the actual use in FY 2000, the hourly rate still only averages to $110 per hour. Camille Anthony asked if they had a paralegal rate, and Cohen noted that they have not used paralegals a lot although they have three paralegals in the firm. He would try to use them to a greater extent. It has not been an issue when there had been a fixed fee retainer but they would give a reduced rate at half the counsel rate for the use of paralegals. Tim Twomey asked if there were incentives not to go beyond 1100 hours. Cohen noted that the firm wants to work as few hours as possible other clients pay $250+ per hour. Camille Anthony asked why Keegan, Werlin & Pabian wants the Town of Reading for a client. Cohen noted that his career has been tied into the Town of Reading, and Reading is like a second home. He feels he is part of the community and wants to continue. Over the past seven years, because of the effective billing rate, this has been very difficult. He has worked longer hours to continue to do municipal work. Keegan, Werlin & Pabian has a strong commitment to government, and are willing to take on additional work to make it happen. They need to balance this with the need to be profitable. Cohen knows that if they go over 1100 hours, it would be difficult to get additional money. This is a strong incentive to keep the hours controlled. Even $150 per hour is a bargain rate for litigators. Tim Twomey noted that the Town would have to spend 2000 hours to hit the effective rate of $125 per hour. Cohen noted that Keegan, Werlin & Pabian started with government work. Municipal government work relates well to other work in the firm. Jonathan Barnes asked if their expertise is qualitatively better, and it was noted that it is especially in special work such as environmental, landfill issues, etc. Keegan, Werlin & Pabian is doing landfill redevelopment work in two other communities, and uses Reading as a model. Cohen noted that if the Town prefers a straight hourly rate, that they are willing to look at it. Last year, 220 hours were spent on real estate work, 540 hours on litigation, and the rest on general work. The municipal department of Keegan, Werlin & Pabian is all together as a group and their interrelationship is excellent. Keegan, Werlin & Pabian also does not charge for travel time, and training would be done at no additional cost. Camille Anthony thanked the representatives from Keegan, Werlin & Pabian for appearing. j` Leal Services Review Committee Meeting - September 27, 2000 - Page 5 The Committee then talked about the process to make a decision on what firms to send along to the Board of Selectmen. Next week, they will go over the three candidates that they want to pass along. The Town Manager will look at costs for 1,000, 1250, 1500 and 2000 hours. Tim Twomey noted that this year the major focus is cost because of the Town's financial outlook. The Town Manager will also check references, and get feedback from retirement and assessment as to how they feel about the firms. The next meetings will be October 12, 2000 at 8:00 p.m. and October 18, 2000 at 8:00 p.m. On motion by Anthony seconded by Crook, the Legal Services Review Committee adjourned their meeting of September 27, 2000 at 10:30 p.m. by a vote of 4-0-0. He pec u submitted, S cretary