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Home My WebLink About1996-04-09; City Council; 13599; RETENTION OF SPECIAL COUNSEL/ > .., i Q 9 8 2 .. - c II i3 z 3 0 0 0 e fi5 4 CITY OF CARLSBAD - AGENDA BILL AB# 13; 5 '? ? CITY Iv DEPT. CA CITY A RETENTION OF SPECIAL COUNSEL MTG. 4 dq - 94 DEPT. TITLE: RECOMMENDED ACTION: Approve Resolution No. %I29 , authorizing retention of additional special counse of employee relations lawsuits. ITEM EXPLANATION: The Council has previously authorized the City Attorney to retain certain law firrr counsel. From time to time, these authorizations should be reaffirmed and amendc new law firms and current proposal letters. The City attorney recommends that the authorize the retention of additional special counsel for employee relations litigati Prater of the law firm of Best, Best & Krieger at the rate of $150 per hour. GENERAL LIABILITY Daley and Heft Butz, Lucas and Dunn Law Offices of Charles A. Vivian0 Law Offices of Bartlett, Kirch & Lieve LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT/CIVIL RIGHTS MATTERS Best, Best & Krieger Daley & Heft Whitmore, Johnson & Bolanos WORKERS' COMPENSATION England, Hodik & Trovillion Gillette, Loof, Langton & Hagner Heggeness & Sweet Graves, Roberson & Bourassa EMINENT DOMAIN AND CONDEMNATION Asaro, Keagy, Freeland & McKinley Daley and Heft Brown, Diven & Hentschke FISCAL IMPACT Funds for retention of special counsel are already included in the City's self-insura EXHIBITS: Resolution No. '%i - 12') . 4 ll 2 1 2 3 I 0 0 RESOLUTION NO. 96-127 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CARLSBAD, CALIFORNIA, AUTHORIZING THE RETENTION OF ADDITIONAL SPECIAL COUNSEL 4 WHEREAS, Section 2.14.130 of the Carlsbad Munici] 5 provides that the City Council may employ special counse 6 7 terms it considers proper; and 8 recommendation of the City Attorney, that it is necessary t WHEREAS, the City Council has determined 9 additional special counsel for defense of lab( lo 11 employment/civil rights matters; and NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Counci 12 007 'o> SLu? $Za5 13 qjs 2;sz E:$ a9 an8 2Qu% _ILa 14 VnL 15 ob58 ""%a ZWV)~ oZJ ~ 16 aoJ ?$a 17 City of Carlsbad, California, as follows: 1. That the above recitations are true and cor: 2. That the City Attorney- is hereby authorized t the law firm of Best, Best & Krieger as he considers approp the rate of $150 per hour pursuant to the "Proposal to 1 Litigation Legal Services" attached hereto as Exhibit "A~~ 18 3. That the City Council authorizes the expend I' funds as may be necessary to pay the fees of special cou 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 I labor and employment/civil rights matters- /// /// /// /// /// /// 1 I 28 4 . om $E& an8 ow2 5UU 2044 ktgc ooo9 d;gz E:$ 3W5 a> >JZ zIL1o)o 02” - =a20 a02 bo >2l$ ? 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 0 0 PAbbED, APPROVED AND ADOPTED at a Regular Meetin5 City Council of the City of Carlsbad on the 9th day of - ‘1996, by the following vote, to wit: AYES: Council Members Lewis,. Nygaard, Kulchin, Finnila NOES: None ABSENT : None ATTEST : ALETHA L. RAUTENKRANZ, City qlerk ( SEAL 1 * 0 * rAl4 .. / SIT /L 8 RIVERSIDE team 686-1450 - PALM SPRINGS (8191 326-7264 BEST BEST & KRIEGER LLP A sALwoI-a - UIMI CII-IU -UDIO monsamnaC Comumancma LAWYERS 6) 402 WEST BROADWAY. I~TH FLOOR - RANCHO SAN DIEQO. CALIFORNIA 98101-3542 (619) 51 ONT (9091 st TELEPHONE (6lDl 625-I300 TELECOPIER (819) 233-6118 - RECE\VED March 29, 1996 APR 2 - 1996 Arlellf , ddD Direc a.. CiTV ~i iofi%$y (61 9) Ronald R. Ball, City Attorney City of Carlsbad Office of the City Attorney 1200 Carlsbad Village Drive Carlsbad, California 92008 Re: Legal Services Dear Mr. Ball: I was pleased to be able to assist the City recently by fili an Amicus Curiae brief on behalf of 82 California Cities in suppc of Carlsbad's petition to the United States Supreme Court in t Warren case. Although we were all disappointed with the Court denial of review, hopefully there will be a future opportunity f the Supreme Court to review these important legal issues. I hope that you were satisfied with our work on that matte and wanted to take this opportunity to let you know of availability and interest in assisting the City in employme litigation. I know you are generally familiar with my backgror and experience, but I wanted to provide you with some more detail information, lists of my representative public agency clients E references, and information on our rates. As set forth in my enclosed Resume, for many years I h; specialized in representing public employers, as well as priv: employers, in employment law litigation, administratj proceedings, labor negotiations, and advisory matters. I start my legal career with San Diego County Counsel, where I worked 1 approximately eleven years. Much of my work there was employme litigation. I then joined Jennings, Engstrand & Henrikson, whc I continued to specialize in representing public and prim clients in employment matters. In October, 1993, I assisted opening the San Diego office of Best Best & Krieger, where I am I a partner. Best Best & Krieger is one of the oldest and largest fl service public law firms in California, with offices in San Diel AP17879 4 LAW OFFICES b 0 1 BEST BEST & KRIEGER LLP Ronald R. Ball, City Attorney March 29, 1996 Page 2 Riverside, Palm Springs, Ontario, and Rancho Mirage. The firm h provided legal services to public agencies, as well as businesses and individuals, for over one hundred years. The S Diego office is staffed with eleven lawyers practici predominantly public law. The office is staffed with experienc law, coupled with public agency experts who have moved from c Riverside headquarters. San Diego lawyers with years of practice in San Diego public ager: I regularly represent both public and private'employers in E areas of employment litigation, including sexual harassment E discrimination cases (gender, age, race, religion, handicap, etc under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, the Fedel Equal Employment Opportunity Act, the Americans with Disabilitj Act, the State and Federal Family Leave Acts and the Workel Compensation laws. I handle cases involving wrongful terminatic constructive termination, breach of contract and related issue defamation, wrongful hiring and retention, violation of privacy 2 other employee rights, deprivation of civil rights and otl employment issues. I have litigated cases involving the Fair Labor Standards 1 and issues related to overtime pay for standby duty, as well other wage and hour issues under Federal and State laws. I also often involved in all steps of public employee disciplin: matters, from providing advice to the administrative hearing i then through judicial review. Likewise, I am involved in i stages of grievance proceedings. I regularly represent clients responding to administrative complaints of discrimination. I h; issues under the Meyers-Milias-Brown.Act. Other specialized pub: agency issues have included Brown Act litigation, and petitions ' writ of mandate challenging various aspects of personnel rules general, and as applied to specific employees. I have hand: numerous matters on appeal at all levels of federal and st( courts. Because of my almost twenty years of representing pub agencies in employment matters in San Diego, I believe I brin! unique background and expertise to my clients. also litigated numerous cases arising out of collective bargain. I am mainly assisted in my employment litigation by associ David Cabral. David assisted me in researching and drafting Amicus Curiae brief in the Warren case, and has developed expert in both employment matters and litigation. A copy of his Resume also enclosed. Enclosed is a rate sheet. If retained to represent the C in employment litigation, I would propose using our standard ra for representing public agencies through Joint Powers Insura AP17879 LAW OFFICES d) 0 BEST BEST & KRIEGER LLP Ronald R. Ball, City Attorney March 29, 1996 Page 3 Agencies. These rates are generally lower than our normal rate but I would be happy to provide them to the City. We are, course, always open to consideration of other alternative billi arrangements. I am very interested in having an opportunity to represent t city in employment litigation, and am confident that you and t the approach I bring to representing public agencies and employee Therefore, should the need arise, I hope you will give consideration. I would be happy to meet with you and other Ci representatives at your convenience. other City representatives would be pleased with my expertise a Urlene Prater of Best Best & Krieger LLP AP/llf Enclosures AP17879 e & 0 Arlene Prater Ms. Prater has specialized for many years in providing advice to public and private employers on personnel and labor matters and representing public agencies and private employers in employment law litigation and administrative proceedings, as well as labor negotiations. Before joining Best Best & Krieger LLP in 1993, Ms. Prater was a partner 2 Jennings, Engstrand and Henrikson, where her emphasis was employment and labor law, a she was chairperson of that fm’s employment and labor practice group. Now a partner i the San Diego office of Best Best & Krieger, Ms. Prater continues her practice emphasizir personnel and labor advice and litigation for public agencies and private businesses. Ms. Prater regularly advises clients on all aspects of personnel management, includ employee discipline and grievance matters, employee handbooks, employment contracts, personnel policies such as sexual harassment and drug and alcohol, and compliance with tl many state and federal constantly changing employment laws including the discrimination laws, the collective bargaining laws, the Family Leave Acts, the Americans With Disabilit Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act and many other laws. She advises clients on wage and hour issues, employee safety issues, workplace violence issues, drug and alcohol issues, employee and applicant privacy issues and advises clients and drafts documents for all stag of employee disciplinary matters. In addition, Ms. Prater regularly handles discrimination, harassment and wrongful termination litigation in State and Federal Court, as well as a wide range of other litigatio involving the rights and obligations of employees and employers. Ms. Prater has handled many cases arising under the federal and state discrimination laws and federal and state la1 laws. Ms. Prater defends clients against administrative complaints of discrimination pend: AP12690 e 0 with the State of California Department of Fair Employment and Housing and/or the Equ: Employment and represents clients in employment matters before other state and federal agencies. In addition, Ms4 Prater advises and represents public and private clients as to matte arising out of the collective bargaining process under state and federal law. She also conducts and assists in contract negotiations, impasse procedures, grievance procedures, Union representation proceedings and unfair labor practice charges before local, state and federal agencies. While employed with the San Diego County Counsel’s office from 1977 to 1988,l Prater represented the County of San Diego and school districts in civil litigation involvinl employment, labor relations, civil rights, education, tort liability, and other related subjeci areas. Ms. Prater conducts supervisory and other training for clients as well as participatc in the regular Best Best & Krieger Employment Law Seminars. She is a frequent speakel employment law seminars for attorneys and human resource professionals on a wide rangc current personnel issues, and writes articles on topics of current interest in employment k Ms. Prater received her bachelor’s degree fiom the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1970, and her law degree from the University of San Diego in 1975. AP12690 -2- 1) e I David Cabral Mr. Cabral is an associate with Best Best & Krieger LLP. He provides labor a~ employment law services to public agencies and private employers, including advice on a wic variety of personnel issues and assisting in the defense of wrongful termination, discfiminali and other lawsuits. He assists in the preparation of materials for Best, Best & Kriege: seminars regarding recent developments in labor and employment law, and is a contributor Best, Best & Krieger’s Labor and Employment Law Update. Mr. Cabral received his B.A. in Economics from Wheaton College in 1987 and obtaix his teaching credential at the University of San Diego in 1989. After teaching middle schc social studies, Mr. Cabral attended the University of Notre Dame Law School where he em his juris doctorate in 1994. 0 0 REPRESENTATIVE PUBLIC AGENCY CLIENTS Association of California Water AgenciedJoint Powers Insurance Authority ("ACWNJPIA City of EncinitaslSan Dieguito Water District Fallbrook Public Utility District Helix Water District Padre Dam Municipal Water District Pomerado Cemetery District Rainbow Municipal Water District Ramona Municipal Water District San Miguel Consolidated Fire Protection District San Diego Unified Port District San Diego Unified School District Santa Fe Irrigation District Sweetwater Authority Valley Center Municipal Water District 0 0 ! REFERENCES Thomas E. Maddox, Vice President Deputy General Counsel Post Office Box 27447 Salt Lake City, Utah 94127-0447 American Stores Company (801) 320-3272 Christina L. Dyer, General Counsel San Diego Unified School District 4100 Normal Street San Diego, California 92103-2682 (619) 293-8450 Thomas BeckordJace C. Schwann City of Encinitas 505 South Vulcan Encinitas, California 92024-3633 (619) 633-2600 Chief Kevin P. Eggleston San Miguel Consolidated Fire Protection District 2850 Via Orange Way Spring Valley, California 91978 (619) 670-0500 Daniel N. Klaff, Chief Executive Officer ACWNJPIA 5620 Birdcage Street, Suite 200 Citrus Heights, California 95610 (800) 231-5742 Geoffrey Poole, General Manager Santa Fe Irrigation District Rancho Santa Fe, California 92067-0409 Post Office Box 409 (619) 756-2424 Ethel M. (Dee) Chastain, Director of Human Resources County of San Diego County Administration Center 1600 Pacific Highway San Diego, California 92101 (619) 531-5107 c 0 a i PROPOSED BEST BEST & KRIEGER RATES FOR LEGAL SERVICES TO THE CITY OF CARLSBAD Partners: $150 Associates: $110 - $140 Paralegals: $75