To: All Clients
From: Robert J. Henry, General Counsel
Date: January 10, 2003
Re: Reducing Legal Costs
Although the governor and the Legislature have not yet reached agreement on how to respond to the State's fiscal crisis it is apparent that public schools and colleges will be directed to reduce 2002-03 as well as 2003-04 fiscal year expenditures.
Over the last several years we have offered various suggestions on reducing legal fees and, in light of the present fiscal climate, we recommend that each client consider implementing the following protocol as soon as possible:
- Designate which administrative employees are authorized to request legal assistance and urge them to consult with you or another designee before contacting our offices.
- Ask the governing board of your district to consider adopting a policy under which only the president of the board, or another board member specifically designated by the president or the full board itself, may contact our office seeking legal advice or assistance.
- Make sure your binders on our Legal Update Memos are up-to-date and are utilized before calling our office for advice. On many occasions we receive telephone calls on issues that have been addressed by one or more of our published opinions.
- If an issue is not time critical try to hold the matter until you have one or more other issues to refer to our office.
- If your district finds itself involved in a significant number of student expulsion hearings that involve multiple attorneys it may be worthwhile to train one or more administrative employees to "prosecute" the case, even if the student is represented by legal counsel. Under this scenario an attorney could be assigned to advise the expulsion panel thus avoiding the need for the district to hire 2 attorneys.
RJH/tw
Generously provided by: Robert J. Henry, General Counsel, School and College Legal Services of California
