March 19, 2024
City Attorney's Office
DATE: March 19, 2024
TO: Mayor Martinez and Members of the City Council
FROM:
Shannon Moore, Chief Assistant City Attorney
Kimberly Chin, Senior Assistant City Attorney
Subject:
Legal Services Agreement with McNamara, Ambacher,
Wheeler, Hirsig & Gray, LLP
FINANCIAL IMPACT: This contract will be for a total amount not to exceed $100,000 with term ending June 30, 2025. This
agreement is charged to the Risk Management General
Liability Fund 50182316-400554.
PREVIOUS COUNCIL
ACTION:
March 2, 2021 , October 5, 2021 , May 17, 2022 , and
September 13, 2022.
STATEMENT OF THE
ISSUE:
A legal services agreement with McNamara, Ambacher,
Wheeler, Hirsig & Gray LLP is needed to ensure that the City has the appropriate legal representation in pending and future police tort litigation matters.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
APPROVE a Legal Services Agreement with McNamara,
Ambacher, Wheeler, Hirsig & Gray, LLP for a total
amount not to exceed of $100,000, for a term beginning
July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2025 – City Attorney’s Office (Shannon Moore 510-620-6505).
DISCUSSION:
McNamara, Ambacher, Wheeler, Hirsig & Gray, LLP (formerly McNamara, Ney, Beatty, Slattery, Borges & Ambacher LLP) currently represents the City in several police tort lawsuits. As the City Attorney’s office works to review and reduce outside counsel costs, it is appropriate to continue to work with this firm. As noted above, the firm has had AGENDA
REPORT
March 19, 2024
good success and is in the middle of working on other matters. At this juncture, changing companies would be both time-consuming and financially imprudent.
Due to an administrative error, the contract with McNamara, Ambacher, Wheeler, Hirsig & Gray, LLP expired on June 30, 2023; therefore, the City Attorney’s Office is requesting that the City enter into a new contract with McNamara, Ambacher, Wheeler, Hirsig & Gray, LLP for a total contract amount of $100,000, for a contract term of July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2025.
DOCUMENTS ATTACHED:
Attachment 1 – Legal Services Agreement with McNamara Law (proposed)