Why new Central Bucks board plans review of 'deeply problematic' $1.75M in legal work

The Central Bucks School Board will be scrutinizing the $1.75 million in legal bills tied to an anti-LGBTQ discrimination investigation after learning an undisclosed internal audit turned up “concerns.”

The revelation made at the board’s Dec. 4 meeting came during questioning about the latest, and perhaps last, batch of bills from Duane Morris LP, the Philadelphia law firm that led seven months of work involving four complaints of anti-LGBTQ discrimination filed with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights.

While the board voted unanimously to pay the $1.14 million citing its contractual obligation, new Board President Karen Smith also signaled the end of the district's relationship with the high-profile firm.

More CBSD news How much will the Central Bucks probe into LGBTQ discrimination cost taxpayers? We know now.

But board members agreed they plan to look deeper into the firm's work for the district.

“I don’t feel this is the end of this,” Vice President Dr. Mariam Mahmud said.

Board Solicitor David Conn confirmed Wednesday that he will be examining how the firm was picked, its billing practices and the work it performed.

“It appears deeply problematic,” Conn said.

What are the concerns about the Duane Morris bills?

When it hired Duane Morris in a 6-3 vote last November, former school board leadership never explained why it picked the firm instead of going with one on the approved list of its liability insurer CM Regent, which is the typical process.

CM Regent has at least seven law firms with civil rights expertise in K-12 education matters as panel counsel, which charge far lower hourly rates than Duane Morris, said Conn, whose firm Sweet, Stevens, Tucker, Katz and Williams LP is one of them.

Panel counsel is currently representing the district in at least two lawsuits filed in the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, including a collective action case involving more than 350 female teachers.

Duane Morris is not on Regent's list, but the insurer agreed to allow the district to use the firm at the same reimbursement rate as panel counsel, which is $200 to $250 an hour.  Through a spokeswoman, Duane Morris declined comment on its billing with the district.

The district recently received $250,000, the maximum allowed under its policy, which covered roughly 15% of the Duane Morris bills paid, so far.

At the Monday meeting, board members learned that the “previous board leadership” had asked an unidentified “outside” law firm to review six months worth of the firm’s invoices, which found “several concerns,” according to district Chief Operating Officer Tara Houser.

Houser did not identify who authorized the audit, when it took place or what concerns it raised.

“I was told that members of the board were meeting with Duane Morris to discuss the outcome of that audit and was not given any update as to the outcome of those meetings,” she told the board Monday.

In an email Tuesday Houser referred questions about the audit to the district administration, which did not respond by close of business Wednesday.

Smith and Mahmud said they were unaware of either a previous audit of Duane Morris bills or that prior board members were negotiating with the firm.  Former board member Tabitha Dell’Angelo also confirmed she was unaware of either item.  The three Democrats voted against hiring Duane Morris last year, and routinely said they were left out of board communication and business by the GOP-led body.

The Democrats took control on the board Monday night after the November election when they swept their races, flipping leadership from the Republicans to their party.

Board members Jim Pepper did not immediately respond to an email sent Wednesday asking if he was aware of the audit or board member negotiations. Board member Debra Cannon provided a response that did not answer the question and instead railed against local media.

Board member Lisa Sciscio responded in an email Thursday: "I will gladly supply you with a comment for your 'story.' It is completely pointless to interact with you. I hope I see that in print."

Pepper, Cannon and Sciscio were part of the former GOP-majority on the board that voted to hired Duane Morris.

What happened at the CBSD meeting New Democrat-led board in Central Bucks takes control, reverses controversial policies

Newly seated board members, who also took office Monday, questioned the billing practices of Duane Morris, including why the district was asked to pay seven months worth of bills at one time.

“I would think there should be periodic invoices for billing and interval payments,” said new member Dana Foley. “It feels like a deviation from what perhaps is normally done for legal services rendered.”

The most recent bills, covering work performed from April 1 through Oct. 31,  did not get to Houser until Nov. 13, though the firm’s letter of engagement promised monthly billings.

Houser added that she received bills only twice before.  Last December she received a $114,000 bill for November, and then she did not receive any additional bills until late April for work performed from Dec. 1 through March 31.

“It’s out of the norm I will grant you,” she added. “I’ve never seen a law firm sit on bills of this magnitude for this long.”

But it is unclear at this point if Duane Morris violated its monthly billing agreement, according to Conn, the new solicitor, who was appointed Monday.

While it is normal practice for law offices to send bills to the business office of a client, it appears that Duane Morris was sending its bills to “other folks,” including former Superintendent Abram Lucabaugh and former board President Dana Hunter, Conn said.

Houser told the board on a monthly basis she requested courtesy copies of the bills from Regent and she also sought copies from “administration leadership” on a monthly basis.

“The explanation to me why I was not getting the bills from April until November was that there were discussions going on and I’d get the bills when those discussions were complete,” she said.

Houser added that Regent representatives were receiving invoices and communicating with Duane Morris because the firm was not billing in the same manner as panel counsel.

There were also questions about charges, which is where the reported “negotiations” with the firm came in, she added.

New board member Heather Reynolds expressed concerns about whether the delays and volume of invoices gave Houser enough time to check them and make sure there were no questions about charges.

“Who is scrutinizing the invoices?” she said.

Houser said there was likely not enough time to do an audit of the bills, which she estimated are due paid by Dec. 15. Under its agreement, the district has 45 days from when it receives the bills to pay them.

The previous audit of six months of invoices took a “few weeks,” according to Houser.

What books did Karen Smith swear on She fought GOP board on censorship, then took oath on stack of banned books as new president

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Central Bucks to review $1.75 million legal work in discrimination probe