State lawmakers have signed redistricting contracts with four law firms that will likely put taxpayers on the hook for another seven-figure payout in a fight over Wisconsin’s legislative lines, according to records obtained by WisPolitics.
Republican lawmakers have retained three firms, including two that wrote into their contracts caps that total more than $1.8 million. The third will charge taxpayers up to $450 an hour.
Unlike the redistricting fight that spanned late 2021 and early 2022, Dem lawmakers will have their own attorneys representing the state senators named in the suit. Their lawyers are in line to make up to $300 an hour.
If the case goes to trial, the tab would surpass the nearly $1.6 million that GOP attorneys charged taxpayers over the course of the last redistricting lawsuit that spanned late 2021 and early 2022.
Last time, Republicans preemptively retained two firms to represent them in early 2021 amid expectations that they would be unable to reach a deal with Dem Gov. Tony Evers on new legislative and congressional maps. This time, the lawyers have been retained in response to two suits filed by Dem voters looking to overturn the legislative lines and have the court’s new liberal majority put new maps in place.
Unlike last time, Dem lawmakers will have private attorneys of their own. One of the two petitions for original action now pending before the state Supreme Court named five Dem senators elected last fall as defendants.
That suit also named 12 GOP senators as defendants as it seeks to force all 17 to run next fall under new maps.
The lawsuits will likely contribute significantly to the growing tab for private attorneys that GOP lawmakers have amassed over the past five years.
According to records tracked by WisPolitics, Republicans spent nearly $14.3 million on private attorneys between Jan. 1, 2019, and Dec. 31, 2022, on cases that ranged from election law disputes to fighting Evers’ extended stay-at-home order. So far this year, they’ve rung up another $783,207.
As with the new redistricting suits, Dem lawsuits have helped drive that tab. That includes $4 million for the Legislature to defend itself in a series of lawsuits filed over their actions in a December 2018 lame-duck session. They also spent $511,115 on lawyers as Dem AG Josh Kaul sought to force Fred Prehn from the Natural Resources Board after the Scott Walker appointee refused to step down after his term ended. GOP lawmakers successfully intervened in the suit.
The overall tab includes $1.7 million in legal fees for various court actions growing out of former Justice Michael Gableman’s review of the 2020 election. Most of that has been to defend against a series of open records lawsuits filed by Washington, D.C.-based American Oversight for records stemming from the probe. The WisPolitics tally doesn’t include the $441,345 in attorneys fees Dane County judges have awarded to the group’s attorneys; Republicans continue to fight those rulings.
Here’s an overview of the new contracts:
*The deal with Virginia.-based Consovoy McCarthy and Adam Mortara of Lawfair LLC in Chicago is similar to the contract GOP lawmakers signed with them for the last redistricting fight.
The deal includes a cap of $965,000 through Aug. 15, 2024. That includes $100,000 a month for work starting Aug. 2 and $200,000 a month during active litigation. If there’s a trial, the fee would be $15,000 a day based on a seven-day work week. That cap doesn’t include out-of-pocket expenses such as travel, photocopying and experts, which would be passed on dollar-for-dollar.
The firm won’t supply time records since it’s a flat fee contract.
It also hints that Republicans are gearing up for a fight beyond the state Supreme Court. The deal says it’s for litigation “pending in the Wisconsin Supreme Court and, if requested and applicable, on appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.”
Republicans had a $965,000 cap for its contract with the firm for the last redistricting lawsuit, which ended up with the state Supreme Court putting GOP legislative maps in place and picking the congressional lines drawn by Dem Gov. Tony Evers under a “least change” approach the justices required.
Altogether, the firm changed taxpayers $990,000, according to the legal bills WisPolitics tracked.
Read the new contract here.
*The contract with Bell Giftos St. John LLC has a higher rate for attorneys than what Republicans agreed to for the 2021-22 lawsuit. The firm, which includes former GOP Deputy Attorney General Kevin St. John, is charging $450 an hour for attorneys and $150 an hour for paralegals. For the last suit, the rates were $375 and $125.
Like last time, there’s no cap on overall costs, and any out-of-pocket expenses will be separate.
For the 2021-22 suit, the firm billed taxpayers $577,614.
Read the new contract here.
*Washington, D.C.-based Lehotsky Keller Cohn is the new addition to the GOP legal team. Its bill includes a cap of $870,000 that includes fees of $160,000 a month while the lawsuit is pending. It also includes a provision that terms can be renegotiated depending on the workload, and out-of-pocket expenses will be passed on.
Read the contract here.
*The five Senate Dems have retained Madison-based Pines Bach. The contract calls for partners to be paid $300 an hour and staff attorneys $200-$250 an hour. It includes a provision that rates may be increased during the suit with one-month written notice, and third-party and travel costs will be billed to taxpayers. It also required a deposit of $50,000.
Read the contract here.
