Who Does Special Counsel Work For in New Orleans?

"I have counseled many individuals and companies grappling with investigations, but this is the first time I've provided this type of advice to a municipality." When I saw this quotation in the National Law Journal, I thought, "Yeah, that's because municipalities aren't investigated, people are."

This quote is from David Laufman, former federal prosecutor and partner in the large law firm Kelley Drye & Warren, which has been hired by New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin to give the city advice on the three ongoing federal investigations. Only the city isn't being investigated, city officials are, including the mayor.

The city charter (§4-403, p. 73) requires the approval of a 2/3 majority of the city council before special counsel may be hired, approval the mayor did not seek, according to an article in the New Orleans Times-Picayune. This emphasizes the fact that special counsel is not representing the city, even if that is what the mayor and special counsel say.

The contract with Kelley Drye (currently limited to $15,000) is small compared to the contracts with another large law firm, Beveridge & Diamond, totaling $245,000. These contracts relate to similar matters, including suits involving document requests and the disappearance of city government e-mails (see an earlier City Ethics blog post for more on this). Neither firm has an office in New Orleans.

A Times-Picayune column by Jarvis DeBerry puts the conflict issue very clearly:

"While his contract makes clear that Laufman will be representing the city and not any employee or official, it has been a persistent tactic of this administration to conflate the mayor's interests with the interests of the city. Laufman's expertise in white-collar defense work and Nagin's refusal to seek council approval add to the suspicion that his ultimate objective is protecting himself -- without reaching into his own pocket."

Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics

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