Richmond City Council
January 11, 2022

December 21, 2021

Department

DATE: January 11, 2022
TO: Mayor Butt and Members of the City Council
FROM:
(List all relevant/responsive staff
persons)
Heather McLaughlin, Acting City Attorney
Shannon L. Moore, Senior Assistant City Attorney

Subject:
(This will appear on the agenda)
Legal services agreements in amount of $350,000 per firm FINANCIAL IMPACT: The payment limit for each legal services agreement shall not exceed $350,000 per law firm. These
professional services will be included in various City
department budgets as needed.

PREVIOUS COUNCIL
ACTION:
(List all dates items were heard or
council action took place)
Click or tap here to enter text.

STATEMENT OF THE
ISSUE:

The City Attorney’s Office is requesting authorization to enter into legal services agreements on an as-needed
basis to provide legal advice regarding municipal law
matters and to represent the City and related entities in litigation in state and federal court, including all appeals.

The City Attorney’s Office conducted a Request for
Qualifications (RFQ) in July 2021, and now seeks
approval to enter into a legal services agreement for an amount not to exceed $350,000 from January 1, 2022
through June 30, 2025, with each of the forty-six qualified attorneys and law firms. The request is not to fund each agreement. The funding source will be budgeted in the
applicable department’s budget.

AGENDA
REPORT

December 21, 2021
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
(This will appear on the agenda)
ADOPT a resolution of the City Council authorizing the
City to enter into legal services agreements with law firms to provide municipal law advice and to represent the City and related entities in litigation on an as-needed basis, for an amount not to exceed $350,000 per firm, for three years, beginning on January 1, 2022 through June 30,
2025, with an option to extend the agreements for two
years – City Attorney’s Office (Heather McLaughlin 620- 6509). This item was continued from the December,
21, 2021 meeting.

DISCUSSION:

The Richmond City Attorney’s Office provides all legal services for the City of Richmond and City boards and commissions. The Richmond City Attorney’s Office and other City departments anticipate needing legal services for both municipal law advice and to represent the City and other related entities in litigation.

In 2018, the City Attorney’s Office solicited a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for legal services and selected thirty-five (35) law firms to retain as needed. The past practice was for the City to enter into legal services agreements with each firm by matter and, since November of 2020, legal services agreements above $10,000 are now approved by City Council.

On July 19, 2021, the Richmond City Attorney’s Office issued an enhanced RFQ for municipal law legal services that sought more detailed responses from applicants to better inform the selection process. The RFQ sought law firms with experience in the following practice areas:

 Administrative Law
 Affordable Housing
 Banking law
 Bankruptcy
 Code Enforcement, including Public Nuisance Actions and Property/Building/Housing/Fire Code Enforcement
 Conflict Counsel
 Constitutional Law
 Criminal and Civil Subpoenas in state and federal courts including Pitchess motions, traffic enforcement and vehicle tows
 Election Law
 Eminent Domain and Inverse Condemnation

December 21, 2021
 Employment Advice and Litigation – Labor and Employment, Pension and Benefits Programs
 Engineering, Design Professional and Construction Contracting Advice and Litigation
 Environmental Advice and Litigation, Federal and State Regulatory Issues, Endangered Species, Clear Air and Clean Water Acts
 Finance Services – Bond and Debt Management, Bond Counsel, Bond Disclosure Counsel, Infrastructure Financing
 Gang Injunctions
 General Civil Litigation
 Insurance Coverage Advice and Litigation
 Intellectual Property (Contracts for Purchase of Computerized Systems, Software and Equipment)
 Land Use Advice and Litigation, including California Environmental Quality Act and litigation and wireless communications land use regulatory issues  Municipal Fire Litigation
 Municipal Police Litigation
 Municipal Procurement and Contracting
 Personnel Investigations
 Planning related enforcement/revocation proceedings; Representing/Advising City Staff or Decision‐Makers in Administrative, Planning Commission and City Council Hearings
 Real Property
 Redevelopment Agency Law
 Taxation
 Tort and Personal Injury Defense
 Training (Employment, Brown Act, AB 1234)
 Writs and Appeals

The RFQ also stated that the City Attorney’s Office seeks to retain a diverse group of qualified law firms and attorneys that will provide high-quality legal services and are dedicated to containing legal costs. In addition, the office seeks to build ongoing relationships with firms that share our commitment to quality and to cost containment, as well as to expand and strengthen our relationships with Richmond-based firms, small firms, and firms that are committed to equity and inclusion.

Placement on a list of qualified firms does not guarantee that the firm or attorney will be retained to provide services. Outside legal services will be used on an as-needed, case- by-case, or matter-by-matter basis. Specific assignments may include investigating, advising, negotiating, reviewing and/or drafting documents (transactional and litigation), and representation in court, administrative hearings, and alternative dispute resolution proceedings.

To broaden the pool of qualified candidates, the City Attorney’s Office expanded the outreach of eligible applicants by reaching out to over seventy-six law firms and organizations, including Contra Costa City Attorney’s Bar Association, Charles Houston Bar Association, California Women Lawyers, Filipino Bar Association, Korean American

December 21, 2021
Bar Association, San Francisco La Raza Association, and the South Asian Bar Association.

The City Attorney’s Office received forty-six (46) responses and all responses were reviewed by a panel of attorneys. After a review of responses, the panel recommends forty-six (46) firms for inclusion to the list of outside counsel to be used on an as- needed, case-by-case basis, which are as follows:

 Aaronson, Dickerson, Cohn &
Lanzone
 Aleshire & Wynder, LLP
 Allen Glaessner Hazelwood &
Werth LLP
 Armento and Hynes, LLP
 Atchison, Barisone & Condotti
 Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud
& Romo
 Bassi Edlin Huie & Blum
 Best Best & Krieger LLP
 Boucher Law
 Burke, Williams & Sorensen, LLP
 Colantuono, Highsmith &
Whatley, PC
 Downey Brand LLP
 Edrington Schirmer & Murphy
LLP
 Ellis Investigations Law
Corporation
 Fox Rothschild LLP
 Goldfarb & Lipman LLP
 Jarvis, Fay & Gibson, LLP
 Jones Mayer
 Kane, Ballmer & Berkman
 Kramer Workplace Investigations
 Kronick Moskovitz Tiedemann &
Girard
 Lafayette & Kumagai LLP
 Law Offices of Bill Ford
 Liebert Cassidy Whitmore
 Maloney Employment Law
 Manning & Kass, Ellrod, Ramirez
& Trester, LLP
 McNamara Law Firm
 Meyers Nave
 Newdorf Legal
 Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak
& Stewart, P.C.
 Oppenheimer Investigations
Group LLP
 Orbach Huff + Henderson
 Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
 Remy Moose Manley LLP
 Renne Public Law Group
 Richards, Watson & Gershon
 Rimon Law
 Schiff Hardin LLP
 Shartsis Friese LLP
 Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger LLP
 Silver & Wright LLP
 Sloan Sakai Yeung & Wong LLP
 Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth,
A Professional Corporation
 Telecom Law Firm PC
 The Sohagi Law Group, Plc
 Van Dermyden Makus Law
Corporation

(insert date of meeting)

The City Attorney’s Office requests authority to enter into legal services agreements with the individual firms for an amount not-to-exceed $350,000, over a three-year period, from January 1, 2022 through June 30, 2025, with an option to extend the agreements for two years. The request is not to fund each agreement. The funding source will be budgeted in the applicable department’s budget.

This action does not terminate the existing legal services agreements that are currently in place on various projects and cases. Those agreements will continue and may be amended to allow work under the agreement to continue. Those agreements will not be terminated unless there is a good reason to terminate the agreement such as the end of the case or matter, or if the work was not meeting the City’s goals.

DOCUMENTS ATTACHED:

Attachment 1 – Resolution
Attachment 2 – Request for Qualifications (RFQ)
Attachment 3 – Legal Services Agreement (template)