Previous Story
CUC cuts legal counsel fee to $194 an hour
|
Posted on Aug 31 2004
The Commonwealth Utilities Corp. yesterday renewed the contract of its legal counsel for another year, but cut his retainer fee from $9,000 to $7,000 a month.
CUC chair Francisco Q. Guerrero said the corporation could not let attorney Brien Sers Nicholas go at this time as CUC has at least seven pending lawsuits. The reduction was made as a cost-cutting measure, he added.
The board’s decision, however, is still subject to condition that retaining Sers Nicholas’ legal services is proper under procurement rules. Moreover, Sers Nicholas is currently off island and has yet to concur with the amended contract.
During yesterday’s board meeting, CUC vice chair Herman P. Sablan made the motion to retain the private lawyer’s services, following a discussion on whether it is legal for CUC to sole-source legal services. CUC procurement officer Mariano Fajardo assured the board that internal procurement rules allow it.
Sablan also proposed to reduce Sers Nicholas’ monthly retainer fee from $9,000 to $7,000, as well as the lawyer’s monthly work time by eight hours.
Board member Joe Torres, however, noted that CUC would not save any money from reducing both the retainer fee and the work hours. Guerrero said the savings will depend on how the corporation controls Sers Nicholas’ work period.
The board ended up voting on the motion to retain the lawyer’s services and reduce his retainer fee from the current $250 per hour to about $194 per hour—with the same number of work hours.
The motion was carried after four of the six board members voted in its favor. Torres and Velma Ann Palacios abstained.
In an interview, Torres noted that majority of the body initially wanted to extend the existing contract and put out a request for proposal from other lawyers.
“I don’t know what happened; they suddenly changed their mind,” Torres said.
Under the old contract, which expired yesterday, Sers Nicholas got a fixed monthly retainer fee of $9,000 for the first 36 hours of work he performed for CUC.
Sers Nicholas was also paid an hourly rate of about $225 to $250 for work done beyond the initial 36 hours.
The lawyer earned $15,000 a month in retainer fee, until it was lowered to $9,000 in September last year.
