Nassau County bypassed bid process on outside legal work, audit finds

The Nassau County Attorney's Office made exceptions to the county bidding process in outsourcing legal work, at times directly selecting specific private firms, resulting in a near fourfold jump in certain legal fees in one year, according to a recently released audit.

In the 11-page report, auditors from NawrockiSmith LLP, based in Hauppauge, found spending on law firms hired by getting around the county procurement process jumped 225% from $1.4 million in 2023 to $4.5 million in 2024. The total amount paid for outsourced legal services increased 80% from $8 million to $14.7 million in the same year, auditors said. 

The audit was commissioned by the Nassau Interim Finance Authority, the county's state-appointed fiscal watchdog, which has long questioned the county's spending on litigation. In February, the panel hired the auditing firm to address the management and rising cost of outside legal services. It was released publicly and posted to NIFA's website last week.

The report found that over the course of a year, the county ignored its policy of soliciting proposals from law firms on its panel and instead directly selected a firm, justifying the practice as necessary for getting cases off the ground quickly. But auditors also found the office violated its own policy that calls for a streamlined competitive bid process for situations that are time-sensitive, and lacked documentation as to why specific firms were hired. 

"There is no management document that tracks outside counsel assignments and the reason/justification for using outside counsel," auditors wrote. The county attorney's office did not dispute this point in the report. 

"To say that the findings of this audit are troubling would be an understatement," NIFA chairman Richard Kessel said in a statement. Kessel said the audit made it "abundantly clear" the county often circumvented policies "to hire preferred firms."

Auditors questioned several senior employees in the county attorney's office and the deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget to determine its findings.

They also reviewed several documents provided by the county attorney's office, including the policy and procedure for selecting outside counsel, various request for proposals or RFPs, the responses, bid packets and proposal rating sheets used in hiring the outside law firms in 2023 and 2024 and a list of vacant Nassau county attorney positions, according to the report. 

In comments attached to the report, the county attorney's office said more flexibility was needed in selecting outside counsel and there are several reasons why certain firms need to be selected directly, including "time constraints, vendor capacity, expertise, relation to other matters or issues determined to be in the best interest of the County." 

Chris Boyle, a spokesman for Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, did not answer Newsday's questions about the audit, including whether the county attorney's office would implement a plan to reduce the expense of outsourced legal work as outlined in the NIFA-commissioned report.

The audit found the total increase from 2022 to 2024 for tax certiorari liability and the litigation liability was $337 million, based on the Blakeman administration's assertion in February that hiring outside counsel saved county taxpayers $400 million.  

Boyle on Tuesday, however, upped that savings figure, saying farming out legal work "saved taxpayers over $700 million by hiring the best attorneys with the requisite expertise in every specialized area for all lawsuits brought against the county."

Boyle said outside counsel also litigates tax appeal cases against homeowners and businesses challenging the county's property tax assessment.

Legis. Arnold Drucker (D-Plainview), who has long questioned the attorney's office and objected to their hiring of outside counsel when contracts have gone before the legislature, said he believes there are talented in-house attorneys who can handle more legal work and the rising cost of outside attorneys "is an obscene amount of taxpayer dollars wasted." 

"As an attorney, I would be offended if I were working in the county attorney's office. You have talented attorneys who can handle more than automobile accidents. You can train people to handle matters, even federal claims," Drucker said. "They [the Blakeman administration] sign a contract and then invariably come back to us because they need more money. They have such low regard for the talent of their own attorneys."

Officials with the attorney's office explained there are "limitations as to the experience and expertise of in-house counsel," the audit said. Auditors recommended the office perform as analysis to determine whether it would be cost-effective to hire more attorneys to handle cases that do not require specialization instead of procuring outside counsel, according to the report.    

Contracts require the approval of the 19-member legislature in Nassau County, where Republicans hold a 12-7 majority.   

The audit recommended the attorney's office develop a tracking system for outsourced cases and perform post-litigation reviews of law firm performance.   

In February, Newsday reported the county budgeted $20 million in 2024 to hire private law firms in addition to the $10 million allocated for in-house lawyers who work in the county's own legal department. Blakeman previously said some cases require special expertise found only in private law firms, saving Nassau taxpayers millions in financial liability.

In 2024, the county awarded $8 million in legal work to outside attorneys in a six-month period, allowing them to begin work before a contract was approved by the legislature, Newsday reported. 

By Candice Ferrette

candice.ferrette@newsday.comcandiceferrette

Candice Ferrette covers Nassau County government and politics on Long Island. She has been a reporter at Newsday since 2011.