Corporation Counsel: Fisher Phillips review underway; city using Faegre Drinker for e-discovery assistance

Brandon Bealer of the Office of Corporation Counsel updated the Investigative Committee on Jan. 29 about the status of the independent review and the city's document production to outside counsel.

Bealer said the committee selected Fisher Phillips as the independent firm to conduct the inquiry and that the Office of Corporation Counsel issued preservation notices to relevant employees. "On Nov. 14, Fisher Phillips did the initial presentation to this committee," Bealer said. He said follow-up, in-depth interviews took place with Director Ellis and Chief Counsel Alan Gevovich on Nov. 25. Bealer described a rolling document production: the first round of materials was produced to Fisher Phillips on Jan. 16, and the city is continuing to deliver email search results and other records. He said the production remains ongoing and that the city expects to complete the remaining email production by early to mid next week.

Bealer told the committee the city engaged outside counsel with e-discovery capacity to support the process. He identified the assisting firm as Faegre Drinker and said the engagement is a separate contract intended to provide continuous response capacity and technology that the city lacks internally. "We engaged outside counsel of Faegre Drinker... to be responsive because we knew that... eDiscovery can be... in-depth," Bealer said, describing the outside counsel's role as helping streamline searches and deliver documents to Fisher Phillips.

Council members asked for detail and transparency. Councilor Andy Nielsen (District 14) and others sought information on what search terms were used to locate emails and how many search terms were applied; Bealer estimated the initial set at about 20 terms and agreed to provide the exact list to the committee for the interim report. Committee members also asked whether deleted emails or materials in recycle bins could be recovered; Bealer and counsel for the administration said the information management system can locate such items.

Several councilors pressed why the city retained Faegre Drinker in addition to Fisher Phillips and asked whether the additional contract added costs or created a risk that relevant material would not be shared with the independent investigator. Bealer said the engagements serve different functions: Fisher Phillips is the independent investigator providing recommendations and assessment, while Faegre Drinker provides continuous response capacity, technology and document‑production support. He described the arrangement as efficiency and capacity-driven rather than duplicative legal work. Councilors expressed concern about transparency and taxpayer costs and asked that the administration include engagement details in the committee's interim report.

Bealer also reminded the committee that the ordinance requires an interim report by the end of February and committed to preparing a written timeline/memo summarizing the production schedule for inclusion in the committee's report. At the end of the meeting, Bealer said he would locate and provide the search-term list to the committee.