Nassau attorney costs are out of control

With Nassau County’s high taxes and fees forever vexing homeowners and residents, government efficiency should be a top priority. In 2022, when County Executive Bruce Blakeman took office, there were 69 attorneys on the county payroll. Now there are 61 attorneys, who along with support staff cost a combined $10 million.

But that’s not where the big-dollar court action is. The Blakeman administration has added to its taxpayers’ costs a remarkably expensive outsourcing of legal work.

The question is why.

For years before Blakeman’s tenure, the county spent between $3 million and $6 million on private law firms for various cases. That cost spiked to $9 million after Blakeman’s team took over. And last year, the county budgeted $20 million for this purpose. That’s all on top of the $10 million for the county attorney’s office, which is traditionally a party patronage trough.

“Outside counsel spending is through the roof,” says Rory Lancman, Nassau Interim Finance Authority vice chair. Suffolk County has budgeted about $3 million annually for outside firms. Nassau’s procurement of outside lawyers, often without competition, cost nearly $15 per county resident last year — versus $2 in Suffolk, as Newsday has reported. Salaries in Nassau’s office range between $94,000 and $187,700 a year. If the work is to be privatized, the county should at least have a competitive selection process.

Properly, NIFA is auditing this budget splurge with a report expected in the next few months. NIFA should see how Blakeman’s claims of $400 million in liability savings holds up compared to what using only in-house staff would have cost. Beyond financial analysis, the question becomes just how partisan the Republican Blakeman team’s legal-representation choices have been.

Last August, Robert Costello, 76, a seasoned GOP-connected lawyer, became a deputy county attorney for $180,250 per year. Weeks earlier, Costello testified as a defense witness for Donald Trump in the felony trial that ended with the now-president’s state conviction. Costello’s eyerolling and muttering led Justice Juan Merchan to chide him.

Generally, law firms have charged the county top dollar, too — for example, Sullivan & Cromwell’s efforts to fend off opposition to the proposed Hub casino were priced at $2.5 million. The firm’s partner rates run as high as $2,395 per hour, according to contracts cited by Newsday. Law firms historically make contributions to political parties.

Blakeman claims private legal hiring brings “stellar results.” That’s not entirely true. The GOP-run county recently paid Chicago firm Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP to defend its district lines against a gerrymandering lawsuit. Nassau had to settle the case by changing the map, as Democrats demanded. Before the battle, Nassau agreed to pay Troutman Pepper up to $2 million.

The county’s legislature and comptroller should review these contracts with an eye toward savings and not rely on NIFA. If past administrations didn’t require excessive spending on outside lawyers, neither does this one.