Excessive legal fees for outside counsel renew concerns from L.A. officials

LOS ANGELES – A federal judge ruled that two law firms overbilled the city of Los Angeles by $900,000, renewing calls for increased oversight of City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo's use of outside counsel.

Delgadillo's office used the firms of Bingham McCutchen and Beveridge & Diamond in a lawsuit challenging Kern County's ban on the importation of L.A.'s sewage, a case which the city eventually won. As part of the judgment, Kern County was required to pay the city's legal fees, which totaled nearly $2 million.

Kern officials objected to the high fees, however, and U.S. District Court Judge Gary Feess ruled that the bills were "grossly excessive," reducing the reimbursement to $1.1 million.

The judge's finding renewed concerns from other city officials about Delgadillo's use of outside counsel, which cost Los Angeles $29 million last year.

City Controller Laura Chick told the L.A. Daily News that this case justifies her requests to audit Delgadillo's use of tax-payer dollars.

"This is exactly why on two different occasions I have attempted to look at various aspects of the city attorney's use of outside legal counsel," Chick said. "I would thank the court very much for catching this."

Delgadillo spokesman Frank Mateljan defended the firms' work. "We recouped almost $1.1 million in legal fees, which is almost unheard of," Mateljan told the Daily News.