Choosing the right City Attorney is crucial

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Wellington fired its city attorney, Jeff Kurtz of the Glen J.Torcivia law firm about 6 months ago which just happens to be the same law firm hired by the city of Lake Worth on July 30th of last year. Wellington decided after ten years that they wanted their own staff lawyer again. Laurie Cohen, the former Wellington councilwoman was hired and she begins on Monday as a village staff member at $187,500 and a $350 monthly car allowance.

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It is projected for year 2014 that Lake Worth will spend $669,147 for legal fees. This number will probably change as we continue with the Budget Workshops.  Torcivia makes $195 an hour with para-legals making $95, a deal we are told. And all those open-ended contracts that the commission has complained about in the past--well, Mr. Torcivia has one of them. And he gets an automatic 3% raise each year. The Commission still has not given a public statement on the effectiveness of the contract we have with Glen Torcivia. They were to evaluate this arrangement after six months which was up on January 30, 2013.

The City of Lake Worth has hired outside counsel in the past, as a staff attorney can't be an expert on every type of matter. The Greater Bay Lawsuit was defended by outside counsel with the objective of going to trial. After three years of billable hours, the new mindset in Lake Worth, and under the guidance of our new city attorney, was/is to settle and boy, did they ever, still blaming it all on a past commission and the wrong one to boot.

In a Study that appeared in the September issue of the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, it was said that on average, getting it wrong cost plaintiffs at about $43,000; the total could be more because information on legal costs was not available in every case. For defendants, (which the City of Lake Worth was in the GB case) who were less often wrong about going to trial, compared to settling, the cost was much greater: $1.1 million. We settled with Greater Bay for $1.6 million even though it was always stated that this case was a "slam dunk" for Lake Worth. If the goal is to settle cases as soon as possible,  a goal with which I disagree, a staff attorney can do this.

Today's PB Post Editorial--Torcivia was the attorney who gave the opinion to Marty Rogel and although legal, the Post says what Rogel did was "not in the spirit of anti-corruption reform."

Choosing the right city attorney is crucial in this litigious society as is the hiring of a city manager. As Lake Worth has little on the agenda these days, (the commission does not want to be bothered with pesky residents taking up their valuable time) our city attorney does not have to be on his toes as often to keep our commissioners from doing something stupid.

It is important to get the best advice, not just an attorney who will agree with you and slant a case toward your desired end.