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Post commentOne lawyer is already working on the case and handled issues before Cole County Circuit Judge Richard Callahan in a procedural hearing Tuesday. The state has asked the judge to allow others from John Munich's Atlanta-based law firm, Sutherland, Asbill & Brennan, to also assist the attorney general's office in the lawsuit filed by districts that claim Missouri's method of funding public schools is unfair and inadequate.
The firm has helped defend other states that faced challenges of their school funding systems. The firm was hired by New York state, for example, which lost its case last year.
The firm's services cost New York taxpayers $11.4 million, including $8.28 million in legal fees and $727,000 in travel and hotel costs, figures from that state's attorney general's office showed. Expert witnesses and others were paid more than $1.8 million. Photocopying alone cost $256,000.
Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon defended hiring the firm Tuesday, saying it has experience with such cases and was the lowest bidder of several firms.
The state is paying the firm a base rate of $295 an hour per lawyer, up to $90 an hour per paralegal, plus reimbursement for things such as travel and hotels, according to documents Nixon's office provided to The Associated Press. Payments are made through the state's Legal Expense Fund, whose budget is approved by the state Legislature.
The school districts that filed the lawsuit take issue with the state's using the law firm. The districts, in a court filing Tuesday, argue that bringing in more lawyers from the law firm would be costly and delay a trial.
"We are concerned that the presence of the Georgia counsel in this case will make this case unduly protracted and expensive for all parties," the districts said in a filing by their attorney, Alex Bartlett.
Bartlett told The Associated Press that his firm charges the districts an hourly rate of as much as $200 per lawyer, and estimated it has performed more than $100,000 worth of work already.
The school districts' legal argument against allowing the lawyers to participate hinges on a state law spelling out whom the attorney general may hire. They argue that any lawyer the attorney general hires is in effect an assistant attorney general and must have the same qualifications as the attorney general, including residency in the state and being a member of the Missouri Bar. While Munich meets those qualifications, they said, the other outside attorneys do not.
The state argues that those lawyers would merely help, not act in place of the attorney general.
The judge has not ruled on the matter.
Case is Committee for Education v. State of Missouri, 04CV323022.
On the Net:
Court material search: http://casenet.osca.state.mo.us
