Corporation Counsel asks for deputies, law‑tech support and eDiscovery contingency

Representatives from the County’s Corporation Counsel office outlined staffing and operational requests to the Budget, Finance and Economic Development Committee, saying their asks are aimed at closing legal and administrative gaps that grew during the island’s recovery and ongoing post‑fire work.

A deputy attorney position focused on land management and a second deputy focused on environmental management were among the main expansion requests discussed. Corporation Counsel staff said a land‑management deputy would work with the Department of Finance’s proposed land manager/administrator and perform property assessments, sales, acquisitions, easements, rights‑of‑entry and, when needed, eminent domain work. A supervising law technician and additional law‑tech support were also proposed to manage day‑to‑day workload.

Nut graf: Counsel staff told the committee these positions would allow the office to address a higher volume of department and county legal needs earlier in project timelines—particularly property and land management matters—and to reduce outside counsel use and case backlogs.

The office also asked for a vehicle for its investigator (an SUV with tinted windows and all‑wheel drive) and requested a modest contingency in this fiscal year to ensure an eDiscovery contract transition completes without interrupting ongoing litigation or records work. On that point the counsel presenter said, "If something goes wrong, July 1 comes and we don't have the contract, then we won't have the funding. I promise to give it back if we don't use it," and described the requested amount as a safety net while an RFP process completes.

Counsel staff explained the office uses temporary/unfunded internship slots to bring early‑career lawyers into the office pending bar exam results; two summer intern positions appear in the budget at 0.3 FTE each while two deputy slots are listed as unfunded and are intended to be filled from deputies who retire or vacate positions. The office said one supervising law‑tech post has been in recruitment for months and that a worker's compensation specialist position moved through classification late in the cycle, delaying the start of active recruitment.

Ending: Committee members asked for additional detail about recruiting timelines and vacancy lists; counsel staff said they would provide follow‑up information and noted many hiring delays reflect civil‑service classification and posting timelines handled by the Department of Personnel Services.