Lawyers hired for subpoenaed lab staff

Nassau County has hired law firms to represent its current and former employees who have been subpoenaed by the state inspector general, who is probing alleged mismanagement and botched evidence testing at the police crime lab.

The county will pay up to $250 per hour to the law firms -- some of which have deep political ties -- to represent county employees in connection with the Inspector General Ellen Biben's investigation of the crime lab, which officials shut down in February.

County Attorney John Ciampoli said the firms are: Lewis & Fiore of Manhattan, where he was once of counsel; Lovett & Bellantoni of Westchester; Ruskin Moscou Faltischek of Uniondale, where State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) is of counsel; Leventhal and Sliney of Roslyn; and Harris Beach of Uniondale, where former County Executive Thomas Suozzi, who has been subpoenaed in the lab probe, is of counsel. That designation refers to an attorney employed by a firm but who is not an associate or partner.

Using outside counsel was required, Ciampoli said, after the inspector general's office said there would be a conflict if the county attorney represented both the county and its employees.

Ciampoli said he followed standard practices in the county for selecting outside counsel and picked firms with lawyers with both Democratic and Republican affiliations to avoid an appearance of political favoritism or conflict. He said the list was drawn from a panel of firms that do business with the county, including his former firm.

To date, Biben has subpoenaed more than 100 people, including District Attorney Kathleen Rice, acting Police Commissioner Thomas Krumpter and County Executive Edward Mangano.

Ciampoli said the law firms will advise employees on cooperating with Biben's investigation and that they will also help the county build a "body of information" about issues that may arise during questioning.

In addition, Ciampoli said that, although investigators are questioning and not prosecuting county employees, legal representation is necessary because criminal charges or civil lawsuits could follow. He said he has advised employees to seek their own defense attorneys if think they have been involved in wrongdoing connected with the lab.

"We're there to provide counsel to public officers who have performed their jobs faithfully and according to the law," Ciampoli said.

John Milgrim, a spokesman for Biben, had no comment on the selections.

Monroe Freedman, a legal ethics expert at Hofstra Law School, said the county paying for lawyers for its employees could pose ethical problems.

While Freedman said it is not unusual for an employer to pay a lawyer to represent employees, he said they must be "fully informed about any possible disadvantages to them in this relationship," including personal information that could come up under questioning and could be repeated by the lawyers to county officials.

Ciampoli said employees have been advised that the lawyers will be reporting back to the county about the interviews. The contracts are still winding their way through the review process but the law firms have already provided representation for some employees, he said.