Wisconsin lawmakers spend taxpayer funds on legal fees

Republican leaders will pay private lawyers up to $550 an hour in taxpayer money to represent the Legislature in a lawsuit challenging them over that very practice: using taxpayer money to hire private attorneys.

The lawsuit, which was filed by liberal law firm Law Forward in February, followed a 2025 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigation that found the state Legislature had spent about $26 million in taxpayer money on legal fees to private law firms since 2017.

The investigation found most of the spending came after Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and Attorney General Josh Kaul won the November 2018 election, defeating Republican former Gov. Scott Walker and Attorney General Brad Schimel. The sharp increase in spending also followed a law passed by Republican legislators in a December 2018 lame-duck session that authorized the Assembly speaker and Senate majority leader to hire private lawyers with taxpayer money.

In a March 20 engagement letter, Matthew O’Neill of the Milwaukee-based law firm Fox, O’Neill & Shannon said he would represent the state Assembly and individual GOP Assembly members as the “attorney primarily responsible for this matter” at a rate of $460 an hour. He added that some work would be done by different attorneys at the firm whose rates range from $255 to $460 an hour, and that paralegals there would charge $75 to $150 an hour.

The state Senate will pay two law firms. Attorney Matthew Fernholz with Waukesha-based firm Cramer Multhauf LLP will receive $360 an hour. Other attorneys will be paid at hourly rates ranging from $175 to $400 an hour, and paralegals work for a rate of $160 an hour.

Fernholz said in a March 27 agreement for legal services that he always tries to provide “the most cost-effective service possible.”

Wheeler Trigg O’Donnell, a firm based in Denver, Colorado, will charge the Senate a blended rate of $550 an hour for “all lawyers who work on this matter,” according to an April 3 engagement letter. The firm said this “represents a substantial discount from our standard hourly rates.”

“It’s pretty ironic that the taxpayer will once again be on the hook for the Legislature’s inclination to spend, spend, spend on outside lawyers,” Jeff Mandell, president and general counsel of Law Forward, said in an emailed statement. “Wisconsin taxpayers are on the hook for a pretty hefty bill, not just from the Assembly, but from the Senate as well.”

Neither Assembly Speaker Robin Vos nor Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu responded to requests for an interview. Both Vos and LeMahieu have announced that they aren’t seeking reelection.

The Legislature has no limit on how much it can spend on outside counsel. It has hired lawyers charging $500 or more on cases related to the lame-duck session, pandemic-era absentee voting deadlines and the city of Green Bay’s use of surveillance equipment at City Hall.

Vos previously told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that legislative leaders are “always working to negotiate fair legal rates when entering agreements with our attorneys.”

“A few of our attorneys provide substantial discounts to the Legislature, recognizing the importance of defending Wisconsin laws in the face of liberal activist groups and an Attorney General that is complicit with those groups,” Vos said in a 2025 interview.

Since taking office in January 2019, Evers has spent about $1.7 million on legal fees to outside counsel. He often relies on the state Department of Justice to represent him and his office.

When Evers has hired outside counsel, he typically did so at rates lower than the Legislature — an average of $278 per hour, with rates ranging from $275 to $450 per hour, contracts show. Evers’ office told the Journal Sentinel in 2025 it works to minimize costs to taxpayers by negotiating for a lower rate.

Mandell said, “If legislative leaders used the proper procedure and secured outside counsel through the Governor’s authority, the flat rate would be $325, 30% less than the Assembly is spending here, which is itself much less than they have spent in other cases over the past few years.”

Following the Journal Sentinel’s investigation, Democratic lawmakers introduced a bill to require a vote by the full Assembly or Senate before either house could hire private counsel at taxpayer expense. A joint appointment would require the vote of the full Legislature.

The bill never made it to the floor for a vote.