Overall Costs Remain Stable Yet the Law Firm of CLeary, Giacobbe, Alfieri and Jacobs Get a Bigger Cut Compared to Last Year
Despite being at a slightly lower spend from where we were last year on total legal spending (83k v. 86k), the law firm of Cleary, Giacobbe, Alfieri, and Jacobs is on track to make more money.
At this point last year, the bill lists showed $38, 324 in connection to the firm – this year, the totals are to $53, 015. That is an increase of ~14,700, according to our review.
This is the law firm that Ms. Stanley, Ms. Penna, and Mr. Hyman hired to pursue ethics charges against Ms. Akiri in 2022 (yes it is still going on), most of which were thrown out by the School Ethics Commission.
This firm is also being paid to defend these same BOE members for filing these charges using District funds (several ethics violations were alleged and validated by the School Ethics Commission as a result of their actions). It was also the law firm that advised the BOE Majority, at the time, that they were permitted to use District funds in this manner.
Recently, Khanna, Akiri, Foregger and Joly reviewed legal bills and pushed back – the firm was found to have over-charged the District as a result of the four member review that Ms. Stanley criticized and a former BOE Member labeled as “getting in the weeds”
April Bill List
