Pairing AGs and Private Attorneys

Legal Newsline (owned by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Legal Reform and member of the Public Nuisance Fairness Coalition) has an interview of Joe Speelman, spokesman for the Coalition, describing attempts by the plaintiffs' bar to expand public nuisance liability in a variety of ways, and criticizing state and local governments' complicity with those attempts - particularly when government plaintiffs hire outside private counsel on a contingency fee basis.

Observing that plaintiffs' lawyers are often big contributors in local politics, Speelman said, “I think there is a formal, or fairly formal, and clear understanding that there is a quid pro quo between contingency fee counsel, who are very active politically with giving money back to an attorney general or city attorney in the form of a contribution.”