East Lansing City Council Votes to Change Attorneys for General Legal Services, Prosecution

East Lansing is changing its primary legal representatives, as City Council opted to move away from Giamarco, Mullins & Horton, PC after three years of service, voting to award a contract to Rosati, Schultz, Joppich & Amtsbuechler, PC. The city took bids for legal service earlier this year, with its contract with Giamarco expiring.

The decision was controversial, as council chose to award the contract to a firm charging a higher hourly rate than what was offered by its current legal representatives on a night where the body tried to budget around the city’s growing financial challenges. 

Councilmembers Mark Meadows and Erik Altmann and Mayor Pro Tem Kerry Ebersole Singh voted in favor of contracting with Rosati for general legal services, saying they were impressed with the firm’s deep bench of attorneys and experience in municipal law. 

Mayor George Brookover and Councilmember Dana Watson said they would prefer staying with Giamarco, saying they are satisfied with the firm’s performance, balking at the higher price tag for the new firm and wanting to maintain continuity with the current firm. 

Tony Chubb of Giamarco has worked as the city’s primary attorney in recent years.

Those who voted to bring in the new firm hope Rosati’s municipal experience means the firm will work faster, reducing hours. 

Giamarco offered to continue working for the city at a rate of $165 per hour for most services, with the exception of charging $150 hourly for prosecution of building/code/zoning violations. 

Meanwhile, for non-prosecutorial services, Rosati charges $225 per hour if the attorney has 10 years or more of experience, and $175 per hour otherwise. 

“This current body is confusing me right now, we just voted to cut a bunch of things but now we’re on board to pay more, when we have a different choice,” Watson said. “I’m disappointed that the landing seems to be what it is.”

However, the council members who voted in favor of Rosati said they think the firm’s sole focus on municipal law will help its attorneys work faster – reducing the number of hours paid for by the city. 

“Just speaking on my own experience,” said Meadows, a retired attorney, “it was a lot faster for me to put together a brief after I had practiced for 20 years in a particular area, and I think the Rosati firm is more likely to actually cost us less because of that.” 

Meadows added that the contract proposed by Rosati is for five years, meaning it will not be able to increase its rates over that period. 

Legal expenses are a significant cost for the city. East Lansing spent more than $425,000 on general law legal costs during the first nine months of the current fiscal year. Since 2016, the city has spent between $298,213 and $687,571 each year on general legal services, according to the agenda report. 

Council members say they they were happy with previous legal services, but feel new firm is an upgrade. 

East Lansing has had some legal troubles lately, but City Manager Robert Belleman clarified that the two most high profile cases – the Country Mill Farms suit and the Board of Water & Light franchise fee suit – started prior the city’s contract with Giamarco, and Giamarco did not provide the primary legal services on these cases. 

Foster Swift served as the primary attorneys on the Country Mill Farms suit and the franchise fee suit through arguments at the state Supreme Court. Giamarco took over as the primary attorney in the franchise fee suit when it was sent back to a circuit court for the settlement process in February. That process is ongoing, and council voted unanimously to have Giamarco continue to work on the settlement. The motion stipulates Giamarco will continue working on all litigation that it has already appeared in front of a court for. 

Council members who voted to contract with Rosati said it was because they are particularly impressed with the firm’s roster of attorneys, not because they are unhappy with Giamarco’s performance. 

“The Rosati firm had such a broad and diverse bench to help us face some of the issues we’re currently facing, as well as issues that tend to come up before municipalities,” Singh said. 

When explaining why he favors Giamarco, Brookover said Rosati is a “very, very good law firm.” However, he likes the continuity that would come with extending Giamarco, he and was happy with its performance. 

“Giamarco has a proven track record of winning in court for the city,” Brookover said. “Their attorneys have successfully litigated and navigated all litigation to which they have been assigned. These results speak for themselves.”

Brookover added that he has a great amount of respect for Rosati, but is worried about a potential conflict of interest. He said the city has recently moved to a different insurance company, a company that is a longstanding client of Rosati. 

“It’s my understanding that it’s [Rosati] one of only two firms that represents the insurance company,” Brookover said. 

Brookover said that the potential conflict of interest may be overcome, but it could present “certain difficulties in terms of continued representation.”

Meadows said he thinks the conflict of interest provision in the proposed contract with Rosati is suitable. 

“I think it’s a very good provision,” he said. “I’ve gone word-by-word through it, and I would hope that any conflict of interest would be resolved in a manner… [where] they will remove themselves and they will have someone else provide the legal services to us.”

East Lansing has been involved in litigation with an insurance company as recently as this year, when it reached a settlement with its insurer over a denied claim – recouping a small fraction of the requested amount. 

Rosati will also take over prosecutorial services for the city. 

Along with general law services, council voted to contract with Rosati to be the city’s new prosecutor. The previous prosecutor, Easterly Law, PLLC, did not propose a new contract with the city. 

Watson offered harsh feedback on council’s decision to bring Rosati on as the prosecutor, saying she was troubled by things said during the interview process. 

“I am deeply concerned about the prosecutor that was presented to us,” Watson said. “But I will do all I can to get that figured out… so that our community doesn’t go backwards.”

Watson said there were “problematic things” happening under a previous prosecutor that she was worried may come back, but did not specify what or which prosecutor. 

ELi reached out to Watson via email requesting clarification on her comments, but has not heard back. 

City retains labor attorneys. 

Keller Thoma, PC will continue to provide labor and employment legal services to the city, negotiating labor contracts and settling employment disputes. 

Council provided positive feedback on Keller Thoma’s performance thus far. 

“It’s usually Gouri [Sashital] that we see, and she’s intelligent, she’s able to break things down and just help us along,” Watson said. 

The initial motion was to have the mayor (Brookover) assist the city manager in negotiating the contract. Meadows asked why the mayor would be involved in this part of the process, instead of just the city manager. 

“I thought it might be advisable to have the mayor involved, but if you want to strike the mayor’s involvement, that’s up to you,” said Brookover, who himself is an attorney that has argued prominent employment litigation. 

Altmann then motioned to strike the mayor’s involvement from the contract negotiations. This amendment passed 4-1, with Watson voting against it. 

Council then unanimously voted to bring Keller Thoma back for labor and employment legal services.