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Board hears rise in specialized legal costs; members ask whether in-house counsel would save money
Summary
The committee reviewed amendments increasing external legal services for Title IX and special-education litigation and members urged the district to evaluate adding in-house specialty attorneys to reduce outside counsel costs over time.
Committee members heard that two outside legal contracts have increased because the district needed specialized representation this year, including Title IX work and fully litigated special-education cases.
Miss Jackson described the amendments: "One of the things that we had, Birch and Moses did this year, which has caused an increase. We've asked them to get involved with some very touchy, title 9 cases," she said, explaining that the type of litigation, not just the amount, drove higher costs. Jackson noted that fully litigated cases are "extremely expensive."
Committee member Miss Downer argued the district should consider hiring staff attorneys to reduce recurring outside counsel costs. "We need an attorney on staff," she said, adding that over time the costs of repeated outside representation can exceed the cost of in-house counsel for specialist areas like labor or special education. Kyle (committee member/staff) responded that some litigation requires specialized attorneys and that the district tries to use city corporation counsel (Attorney Alexiadis) where practical.
Attorney Alexiadis spoke about the district's current arrangements. He said his office handles a number of matters in-house and that additional legal spend is also borne by corporation counsel budgets and insurance-approved panel counsel, meaning total legal expenditures exceed the line items shown in the education department's legal-expense budget.
No contract changes beyond the amendments presented were approved at the meeting; members asked administration to continue evaluating whether more internal capacity could reduce long-term costs and to return to the committee with options as the procurement and city contract renewals proceed.
