(A) It is the policy of the city to use attorneys who are city employees for litigation unless there are special reasons for using contract attorneys. When the City Attorney weighs whether outside legal counsel should be retained to handle litigation, the City Attorney shall elect to hire or propose such outside counsel only when:
(1) There is a conflict of interest within the Legal Department that ethically requires outside counsel to be used;
(2) The city has no staff attorney with both the expertise and the time available to handle the needed work; or
(3) When the city has an insurance policy in which the insurer reserves the right to select defense counsel.
(B) Contract attorneys paid by the city shall report to an overseeing attorney who will evaluate and advise on the appropriateness of the litigation strategy of the contract litigator and will also review and evaluate the billing levels of the contract litigator.
(1) The overseeing attorney shall normally be the City Attorney or a city staff attorney assigned by the City Attorney; the overseeing attorney shall not be a person overseeing the legal case preparation for another party who may have separate interests from those of the party represented by the contract attorney.
(2) If the estimated cost of securing the services of contract attorneys for a case, to be established at the initiation of the legal work, exceeds $100,000, the City Attorney shall request the Director of the Office of Internal Audit to retain a different contract attorney to review the work of the contract litigator retained by the city. The contract attorney so retained shall advise and consult with the overseeing attorney concerning his or her conclusions.
(3) If the City Attorney believes that he or she may be named personally as a defendant in the suit in question or a related suit, or if he or she believes that the Mayor, the Chief Administrative Officer, or a Deputy or Assistant Chief Administrative Officer may be similarly named in the litigation and they are personally implicated based on the specific facts of the lawsuit, the City Attorney shall request the Director of the Office of Internal Audit to retain a different contract attorney to review the work of the contract litigator retained by the city. The contract attorney so retained shall advise and consult with the overseeing attorney concerning his or her conclusions.
(4) If the overseeing attorney believes the contract litigator is not acting in the best interests of the city but when so advised the contract litigator elects not to alter his or her approach, the overseeing attorney shall report this to the person who appointed him or her. Such report by the overseeing attorney shall be at the conclusion of the litigation unless he/she feels the problem is one that must be immediately addressed by the city. Following receipt of such a report, the City Attorney shall share the concern with the Mayor and the President of the City Council; the Director of the Office of Internal Audit, after receipt of such report, shall share the report with the Accountability in Government Oversight Committee. For cases in which the city is the client, members of the City Council and authorized members of the City Council staff shall have unrestricted access to the overseeing attorney and the case record during the course of the legal work and after its conclusion.
(5) In cases for which it has been estimated that the cost of securing the services of contract attorneys exceeds $100,000, the overseeing attorney shall forward for review all legal billings to the Risk Management Division of the Department of Finance and Management. Staff of the Risk Management Division shall work with the overseeing attorney to evaluate the reasonableness of billings and to control contract attorney costs.
(6) The above provisions of division (B) do not apply to defense of Workers' Compensation cases; in those cases, the City Risk Manager shall provide oversight of contract litigators' litigation strategy and billing levels.
(Ord. 14-1994; Am. Ord. 1-2005; Am. Ord. 30-2010)