POSTED: Monday, August 24th, 2009 at 1:00 am

BY: dmc-admin

Private attorneys looking for new sources of work during the recession should not expect a call from the State of Wisconsin.

With a pool of almost 1,000 lawyers, the state government typically has enough depth to handle any legal issue.

Only on occasion do agencies seek outside counsel, often for specialized advice at a discounted rate, said Cari Anne Renlund, Chief Legal Counsel for the Department of Administration.

She estimated that on average, there are 15 to 20 opportunities annually for private firms to work for the state. The majority of these opportunities arise from situations where the state has multiple employees involved in a case and outside counsel is needed to avoid conflicts of interest.

“I suspect firms often get a blind phone call,” Renlund said.

That was the case for attorney Matthew D. Moeser of Murphy Desmond SC in Madison.

In the last three years, he has worked for the state on two separate occasions. In both cases, the calls were unexpected.

The same was true for attorney Lori M. Lubinsky, who spent almost eight months representing a psychologist in a jail suicide case last year.

“I did not anticipate it, but I do mostly federal civil rights cases, so it was right up my alley,” said Lubinsky, of Axley Brynelson LLP in Madison.

Moeser spent almost eight years as an assistant district attorney in Dane County prior to joining Murphy Desmond, and said his work for the state was largely based on his prosecutorial experience.

“In both cases it was investigative stuff, but nobody called me and said, ‘Hey, we’re throwing this to you because someone said you would be good,’” Moeser said.

Moeser said he assumed that people knew he left the district attorney’s office in 2006 and the state was looking for someone local in both cases.

Renlund noted that the Department of Justice may call on private attorneys in crime victims’ rights cases where a district attorney’s office gets sued, to avoid conflicts of interest.

However, she said that the majority of opportunities for outside counsel involve medical malpractice, civil litigation defense or employment law cases.

“The state is looking for attorneys with a relative history of success in similar cases,” she said. “It’s more about qualifications of the attorney than firm size.”

Discounted rate

It is also about cost.

Private attorneys who accept work from the state usually do so at a reduced rate.

“We want people to do the work for not a lot of money,” Renlund said.

In the past, the state has contracted with private attorneys for less than $200 per hour, and during the recession, agencies have made a concerted effort to keep as much work in-house as possible.

The “special counsel contract” signed by Lubinsky was approximately 20 percent less than what she typically charges clients for specialized civil rights federal court work.

“It was at a rate some of my lowest paying clients pay, but it wasn’t so low that I wasn’t willing to undertake the case,” she said.

Moeser said his contracts with the state were “non-negotiable” in terms of hourly compensation and well below the rate he typically charges private clients.

But he said he views the work as a “public service” and in both cases, was promptly paid.

“Like with any clients, I’m not going to run the meter, especially if you want them to hire you again,” Moeser said.

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