County saves money with move to flat-fee contract for legal services

Tuesday, July 28, the Board of County Commissioners approved a legal services contract with Brophy Clauss. Todd Starr, Mesa County Attorney, said the contracted, monthly flat fee of $27,500 will cost less than hourly billing.

“Our litigation spend swung by $253,813 between its high and low year, and I cannot tell you in January what any given year will bring,” Starr said. “A flat monthly fee replaces that volatility with a fixed, budgetable line and shifts the risk of a heavy trial or appellate year to the firm instead of the County.”

Over the last five years the county paid $2,350,662 for legal work, billed hourly. The same five years under this agreement would cost $1,650,000. That’s about $700,000 less.

This contract is for civil litigation defense, federal and state constitutional claims, and claims arising out of law enforcement operations. 

Litigation was previously done by Dinsmore & Shohl, where Andy Clauss and Chris Brophy worked and handled most of the County’s cases. They left that firm and formed Brophy Clauss, LLC.