A report shows that Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell has already spent more money on preparing a legal case against
BP for its Gulf of Mexico oil leak than four other states combined.
The Associated Press also notes that of the $24 million bill Caldwell has already rung up, about 60 percent has gone to outside
counsel.
By contrast, Mississippi has spent $765,000 on outside counsel. Florida has promised a cut of any future damage payments BP
would be ordered to pay if it loses the case to outside law firms it has solicited to work on the case. Texas and Alabama,
the two other states that were affected by the Deep Water Horizon oil spill, haven’t sought outside counsel.
The dichotomy hasn’t been lost on
federal Judge Carl Barbier, who is presiding over most of the case. He
criticized Caldwell
for paying multiple outside law firms for legal work on the case
while other state attorney generals have built their cases
in-house.
In an email to AP, Caldwell defended
the use of outside counsel, writing, ‘‘Properly handling this case
requires expertise
and experience in areas of mass tort and complex litigation, as
well as class action and environmental law.’’ He added that
he has no one on his staff well-versed in these areas.
University of Michigan law professor David Uhlmann said that with billions of dollars in damages at stake, it’s no surprise
that legal fees for outside counsel would run in the millions of dollars.
The Kanner & Whiteley law firm has
collected the most pay via Caldwell’s office at $7 million. That firm
has never donated
to Caldwell’s campaign, but eight of 10 other firms that have made
campaign donations to Caldwell received contract work from
the Louisiana AG’s office for the BP case.
‘‘I’m fairly certain that my
contributions to Buddy Caldwell didn’t have any effect on the amount of
work we’ve gotten or
that we’ve gotten any work at all,’’ said Ike Spears whose law
firm has gotten $37,012 of work from the BP case. Spears’ firm
donated $5,000 previously to Caldwell’s campaign.
Allegations of favoritism to law firms hired as outside counsel have dogged previous Louisiana attorney generals. Whether
it applies here, only Caldwell knows.
Regardless, how the state fares in the BP case and the role that outside counsel plays in shaping the state’s strategy and
argument will go a long way in determining the wisdom in hiring the contract help.
• • •
This editorial was written by a member of the American Press Editorial Board. Its content reflects the collaborative opinion of the Board, whose members include Bobby Dower, Ken Stickney,
Jim Beam, Crystal Stevenson and Donna Price.