The Bluegrass State was worried about its pension fund going broke. Now Kentucky government types are worried they’re going broke spending $550 an hour for a MoFo lawyer to help fix it.
From what Legal Pad knows about MoFo rates these days, that very well could be a bargain. But the Lexington Courier-Journal is reporting that a government contract review committee wants to toss out a contract with senior of counsel Joe Wyatt (does he expense his bowties?), who works out of the firm’s Los Angeles office.
Here’s the paper’s breakdown of Wyatt’s billing and the perfunctory scolding from a public official:
Invoices obtained by The Courier-Journal through the state Open Records Act show Wyatt billed Kentucky for nearly $2,000 in expenses when he traveled to Frankfort in June for a commission meeting.
That included $1,204 for a round-trip coach ticket, $263 for two nights and two breakfasts at a Holiday Inn in Lexington, $135 for a rental car from Budget, $193 for transportation via a limousine service from his Pasadena home to the Los Angeles airport and back, and $35 in tips and food.
In addition, Wyatt billed for nearly 30 hours during his two-day stay, which amounted to about $15,000. A Lexington attorney with Greenebaum Doll & McDonald who attended the June 19 meeting with Wyatt charged nearly $2,000 for that day.
"Quite frankly, we thought the fees were exorbitant and the committee felt it could not be justified paying that kind of money," said state Sen. Ernesto Scorsone, D-Lexington, a member of the contract review committee.
The article goes on to say that a local Lexington firm — Sturgill, Turner, Barker & Moloney — offered to do the work for $125 an hour. Well, for that rate you might be able to get some MoFo associates paralegals to do the work.
— Zusha Elinson
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