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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0111.024 2010-2012 k Lincoln S.T. Ashida William P. Kenoi Corporation Counsel Mayor *1 __ �e•s, : Katherine A. Garson .; '; Assistant Corporation '�'• a. Counsel COUNTY OF HAWAII OFFICE OF THE CORPORATION COUNSEL 101 Aupuni Street, Suite 325 • Hilo, Hawaii 96720 -4262 • (808) 961 -8251 • Fax (808) 961 -8622 E -mail: corpcounsel @co.hawaii.hi.us May 17, 2011 Mr. Dominic Yagong Chair, Hawai'i County Council 25 Aupuni St. Hilo, HI 96720 Dear Chairman Yagong and Council Members: RE: Proposed Amendment to Bill 29, Draft 2 (Communication 111.13, Memorandum 10) This letter is intended to supplement our earlier communication (Communication 111.23) submitted in response to proposed amendments to the Corporation Counsel's operating budget for FY2011 -2012 introduced by a member of the Council. American Bar Association findings In a 2008 survey commissioned by the American Bar Association, nearly one -half of all chief legal officers across the country reported they intended to expand their in- house legal departments. Along similar lines, more than one - quarter of those surveyed said they planned to decrease their use of outside counsel. This was a direct result of the increased cost of legal services by larger law associations throughout the United States. The County of Hawaii Office of the Corporation Counsel's hiring and retention of experienced trial attorneys, together with a decreased dependence on outside counsel has followed this national trend. Our Litigation Division is staffed with attorneys who have experience in plaintiff and defense work in private practice, and have successfully tried scores of cases in both the federal and state courts. Many of our attorneys have in excess of 20 years of practice under their legal belts. Many of our attorneys in our Counseling and Drafting Division have similar experience in litigation and trial work. This is an important skill to have when advising clients concerning risk management. Over the past 10 years, our office has dramatically reduced our dependence on outside counsel; this has been evident in the shrinking size of our Special Counsel Hawai'i County is an Equal Opportunity Employer and Provider Comm. No. / 2 i Ref. To: Preseeia Cpknc; I Ref. Date MAY 1 8 01 Mr. Dominic Yagong May 17, 2011 Page 2 budget. However there has been no corresponding increase in funding of our litigation expenses. In sum, our attorneys have truly lived and worked the adage "Doing more with Tess" (although we prefer to say we are "Doing more smarter "). The litigation budget is at its minimum At the request of the administration, our OCE budget was reduced to a level we felt was minimally necessary in order for our office to continue providing adequate service to our County. The present proposed amendment by the Council seeks to reduce our budget to levels dangerously close to preventing the County from preparing an adequate defense or prosecution in the many cases we are involved in. The present proposed amendment by the Council was made without advance conferral with our office concerning the impact of such reductions. We have often heard the Council speak of the "return on investment" that is used as a measure in the private sector. Applying this theorem, one of our experienced attorneys provided the following observation: Making cuts in the litigation budget is the classic penny wise and pound foolish decision. The County is obviously a target for lawsuits because of its "deep pockets ". It is important to aggressively defend the County against meritless lawsuits. The failure to do so will only multiply the number of lawsuits filed against us. The failure to provide all necessary resources to defend cases, may save a few dollars in the short term, however, it will cost much more in the long run. If the litigators are not provided all the resources they need to defend their cases, there is a tremendous amount of pressure to settle cases for more than they are worth and /or risk a judgment against the County. Obviously, more settlements for higher amounts and /or judgments against the County will cost significantly more than any short term savings. If anything, the litigation section needs more resources right now, not less. There are only four attorneys who handle lawsuits full time. This is significantly less than the 7 litigators on Maui (the Big Island has a larger population). In addition, our office has been litigating two very large cases, 1250 Oceanside and UniDev. These cases are worth millions of dollars and it would be an obvious mistake to compromise this litigation simply to save a few dollars in the short term. The County is savings hundreds of thousands of dollars on these cases already since outside counsel is not be utilized. It would be a disservice to the County and the public to try to litigate these cases "on the cheap ". We have asked each of our litigators to provide anticipated cost information for their pending cases (this does not even take into account new lawsuits that are filed in the upcoming fiscal year). Since this cost information contains their work product (the hiring of experts may reveal trial strategy, e.g.), we will provide this information under confidential and privileged cover to Council members upon request. Mr. Dominic Yagong May 17, 2011 Page 3 The County cannot afford these proposed reductions The bottom line is litigation and legal support is a necessary component of the delivery of services by a municipality. Unlike a law firm in the private sector, we are not able to bill in the hundreds of dollars per hour for the time for our experienced attorneys, in the event we need to increase our revenue stream. The monetary foundation we rely upon to fund our litigation and other legal expenses is dependent upon proper funding by the administration and Council. Failure to provide this adequate funding is a disservice to the public we are all sworn to serve. Based on the foregoing, the proposed amendments in Communication 111.13, Memorandum 10 should not be approved. Thank you again for allowing us to provide this response to the proposed amendments. Very truly yours, Ashida, Lincoln May 17 2011 11:25 AM LINCOLN S. T. ASHIDA Corporation Counsel