Hinsdale D86 Legal Bills Historically High: Analysis

HINSDALE, IL – The Hinsdale High School District 86 board on Thursday plans to review the options for getting a new board attorney.

On Tuesday, the board released an analysis of its legal bills over the years.

Last budget year, which ended July 31, attorney costs totaled $697,362. The district provided inflation-adjusted figures for the previous years.

Last year's legal bills were 50 percent higher than the previous year's. And they were three times larger than other area districts, including Elmhurst School District 205, which has twice the enrollment.

Over the preceding eight years, annual legal bills, in inflation-adjusted terms, averaged $458,000, according to the analysis. That average excludes 2015, when inflation-adjusted bills totaled $884,622.

Robbin Schwartz's latest bill, for July, amounted to $76,015. At that rate, the costs would reach $912,000 over a year.

Last budget year, District 86 bills began to surge after the board unanimously voted for Chicago-based Robbins Schwartz as its new attorney. (Inflation did not apply in this case. The lead attorney for Robbins Schwartz charged a slightly lower rate than the lead attorney for the previous firm, Hodges Loizzi.)

After Patch wrote several stories about the rising legal costs, board member Terri Walker in July was the first member to publicly express concerns about the spending. At the time, others defended the increases.

By early September, though, board members appeared to have lost confidence in Robbins Schwartz. They hired another firm to handle some of the legal work. Then, members started discussing putting out a request for proposals to other law firms.

Last week, Patch wrote a story about the board's apparent unhappiness with Robbins Schwartz.