Proposed County Policy Seeks Greater Use of In-House Attorneys

Reducing the county’s reliance on private attorneys for legal help will be among the items taken up during Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors’ meeting.

Riverside County Chief Counsel Greg Priamos has submitted proposed changes to a county policy, A-18, which specifies how and when agencies should seek outside assistance to handle government business.

Priamos wrote that his aim is to “reduce the county’s reliance on the services of outside counsel.”

The effort, he said, was inspired by former Supervisor Jeff Stone’s recommendation last summer that, in order to save money, the county should take steps to increase its institutional legal expertise and limit the use of contract attorneys.

According to Priamos, since he was appointed chief counsel on June 24, the Office of County Counsel has added four new attorneys “with specific training and expertise in public agency litigation.”

They are:

• James E. Brown, former assistant counsel for the city of Riverside
• Melissa Cushman, former attorney with Riverside-based Best, Best and Krieger, with which the county has contracted on numerous occasions
• Kelly Moran, previously employed by Riverside-based Thompson & Colgate
• Kristen Shea, also formerly employed by Thompson & Colgate

“This ... has been driven by the goal of providing better service to the county and the various client departments, agencies and districts,” Priamos said.

The former city of Riverside chief counsel noted that in-house attorneys are now able to handle a “greater range of legal services,” including contracts, tax issues, healthcare and bankruptcy-related litigation.

The revisions proposed for policy A-18 contain stipulations that, before any county agency seeks to retain an outside law firm, for any reason, the Office of County Counsel must first be consulted and sign off on the plan.

Under current policy, the Department of Purchasing and Fleet Management has authority to authorize contracts below $100,000.

– By City News Service.

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