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Board hears rising assigned-counsel costs and limits to solving conflicts with local hires
Summary
County officials told the Board of Supervisors that rising outside counsel rates and conflict-of-interest rules are driving assigned-counsel costs; options such as hiring more in-house attorneys may not eliminate the need for outside counsel because conflicts still require external appointments.
County legal staff and supervisors discussed assigned-counsel costs, public defender staffing and how conflicts of interest affect the county’s ability to reduce outside counsel spending.
A county attorney’s office representative (staff member) said the assigned-counsel expense is large and is partly driven by higher hourly fees paid to outside lawyers. “It’s a big expense,” the speaker said. The representative said the county has calculated that keeping more work inside the county attorney/public defender offices could require the equivalent…
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