Law firm agrees to reduction in lottery’s legal bill
NASHVILLE (AP) — Almost $900,000 in legal fees accumulated by the Tennessee Lottery during its setup phase will be reduced by 15 percent after several lawmakers complained about the cost.
The reduction will amount to $133,800 extra that can be put toward lottery-funded college scholarships, said Sen. Jerry Cooper, D-Morrison, who announced the agreement Monday in the Legislature’s Fiscal Review Committee.
State Attorney General Paul Summers spent the past several days negotiating the reduction with Nashville’s Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, which led a consortium of law firms chosen last August to represent the lottery as its legal counsel, Cooper said.
Summers will take the compromise to Gov. Phil Bredesen and Secretary of State Riley Darnell for their approval. The two, by lottery statute, were responsible for selection of legal services for the games, and therefore any changes to associated fees.
“They’re not happy, but they’re going to take that,” Cooper said of Waller Lansden. “We’re not out for character assassination, we’re here to do the right thing.”
Controversy over the legal bill emerged in February when state Sen. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, the lottery’s prime proponent, called the cost for five months of work “appalling” and asked for a re-evaluation of the services the lawyers provided.
A large portion of the fees — totaling $180,000 — resulted from the lottery’s consideration and ultimate rejection of a joint partnership with the Georgia Lottery, according to Waller Lansden attorney James Weaver, who led the firm’s lottery work.
Because that deal never came to fruition, Waller Lansden offered to reduce the fees associated with it by half. The remainder of the reduction came after the firm and Summers delved through about 15,000 fee entries for any other mistakes associated with charging for the work, Weaver said.
“Good firms make accommodations for good clients,” he said. “We understand the pressure that the lottery is under, that the AG’s office is under. They’re a great client, and we’re honored to work for them.”
While the lottery now has three in-house attorneys, Waller Lansden continues to do intellectual property work — dealing with trademarks and copyrights of images, logos and phrases, for example — for the games, Weaver said.
The Waller Lansden team — which works at a maximum hourly rate of $240 — includes the law firms of Burch, Porter & Johnson PLLC of Memphis; Metz, Hauser & Husband PA of Tallahassee, Fla., and Spence and Wade PLLC, also of Memphis.
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On the Net:
Tennessee Lottery: www.tnlottery.com
Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis: www.wallerlaw.com