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HomeMy WebLinkAbout4256+Enter Search Criteria, Press Eec Key to Transmit Press Del Key to Terminate Delete Mode CHANGE Contract Transactions Contract Number 4256 + ~Vendor Name LANE POWELL SPEARS & LUBERSKY - KO, ADA ~Subject BURLINGTON ENVIRONMENTAL - CASE #97-2-02152-1 Department ATTORNEY Status Code LGL Amount $200000.00 Begin Date 03/06/2002 Insurance End Date 06/30/2004 Type Amount Review Date 02/15/2006 + Insurance Total $0.00 Insurance Review Date Comments VAULT 01/01/2006 + LLP ~ March 6, 2002 Mr. Roger Lubovich City Attorney L,~, o~i~,~ City of Bremerton 239 Fourth Street A Li,,it~d Bremerton, WA 98337 Liability Including Re: Engagement of Legal Services Dear Mr. Lubovich: Seattle, WA We are pleased that you have requested this firm to provide legal services to the City of 9sw~-2~3s Bremerton in connection with the matter of Burlington Environmental Inc. vs. City of 12o6}2237ooo Bremerton, No. 97-2-02152-I, filed in Kitsap County Superior Court and any administrative heating and appeals therefrom. It is our practice with clients to advise them F~c~i,~a~: in writing of our fee arrangements and we would like to outline the terms of our (206) 223.71o7 engagement at this time. ~,~i~.e~ow,~.com Services To Be Rendered We will be providing only those legal services for which wc are being retained or which we otherwise expressly undertake on your instructions. The legal services we do provide will be on the terms and conditions set out in this letter. The scope of our engagement may change if you ask us to provide different or additional services, such as representation of the City of Bremerton in any administrative or judicial forum regarding the tax audit of Burlington Environmental Inc. If our engagement changes, the terms set out in this letter will apply to the expanded engagement, unless we enter into a further agreement modifying or superseding this one. We will proceed to act on instructions received either from you or from such other person as you may instruct us. StalTmg We are committed to providing high-quality legal services on an efficient and cost-effective A,,chorage, AK basis. I will be the attorney responsible for overall supervision of the legal services Olympia. WA provided to the City of Bremerton in the above referenced matter. My direct dial office is Mt. Ruger Lubvvich March 6, 2002 Page 2 206-223-7716. You or your staff should never hesitate to contact us, and we will endeavor to be available to you as often as you require. In order to reduce the amount of fees and expenses as much as possible, research and other matters regarding your file or matters may be assigned to others in the finn. It is our policy to assign and delegate responsibilities based upon the degree of experience and expertise required for particular tasks. Other finn personnel working on your legal matters may be partners, counsels to the firm, associates, paralegals, legal assistants, or staff; it is our goal to provide high quality legal services at a fair and reasonable cost to our clients. As work on your file progresses, please feel free to contact them, as well as the undersigned, in regard to any questions you may have. Agreement As To Fees Current hourly rates charged by our attorneys for the type of work you have requested range from $260 to $375 per hour. The rate charged for a paralegal or legal assistant is $125 to $155 per hour. Our fees are not contingent upon any aspects of the matters we are handling and we give no assurances regarding the outcome. As compensation for our services on your behalf, legal fees will be billed to you at my hourly rate of $260 and a blended hourly rate of $265 for partners and counsels to the finn, $195 for associates, and $135 for paralegals, for each hour (or fraction) actually worked on your behalf. We estimate that the fees will not exceed Two Hundred Thousand and No/100 Dollars ($200,000). As you can appreciate, it is difficult to accurately estimate the effort that will be needed at this stage in our representation. Should there be a change in the extent or type of work required to complete this project, or should you request that additional work be done, you can expect additional fees to be charged. We will discuss with you these matters on an ongoing basis and will not exceed $200,000 without your prior written consent. Disbursements In addition to our accounts for professional fees, you will be responsible to pay for disbursements and certain other expenses incurred as a result of our engagement. The type of costs you will be responsible for are long distance telephone charges, telex charges, business-class travel and accommodation expenses, photocopying at the rate of 15 cents per copy, facsimiles at the rate of 15 cents per page plus the cost of the long distance calls, Mr. Roger Lubovich March 6, 2002 Page 3 telecopying, transcripts, necessary staff overtime, special postage, delivery services, filing fees paid to government agencies and the fees and disbursements of agents retained by us for searches, registrations and other similar services. If we engage a law firm in another district or jurisdiction or other professional firm or company to act as our agent on your behalf, their fees and disbursements charged to us will also be for your account and will be billed by us as disbursements. Travel time and expenses will be prorated when possible when the trip includes work for more than one client. Ordinarily we will not pay for substantial disbursements and will either request payment from you in advance or pass them on for direct payment by you. Payment of Accounts As a general practice, we will render our statements of account monthly. All our statements to you are due and payable on receipt. Ifa statement is not paid within 60 days of the date of the statement, interest on the unpaid balance will be added at the rate of 1.0 percent per month from the date of the statement until paid. We reserve the right to suspend work for you and retain possession of documents and files in the event accounts are not paid currently. We may refer past due accounts for collection in which case we will be entitled to any collection costs including any reasonable legal fees for litigation or arbitration, including any appeal thereof, to which the prevailing party shall be entitled as determined by a court or arbitrator. Trust Funds In thc course of our acting for you, we may receive funds to be held in our trust account for you. Under the Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts (IOLTA) program adopted by the Washington State Supreme Court, trust funds will not earn interest payable to you unless you give us your written instructions to deposit such trust funds in an interest-bearing account and unless the amount held in trust is sufficient for financial institutions to accept the funds on a term deposit basis. Responsibilities of Attorney and Client We will provide strictly legal services to you in connection with this engagement. The City of Bremerton is not relying on us for, and we are not providing, any business, Mr. Roger Lubovich March 6, 2002 Page 4 investment, insurance or accounting decisions or any other investigation of the character or credit of persons with whom you may be dealing. In addition, unless specifically agreed otherwise in writing, we will not provide any advice related to insurance coverage issues and suggest that you cheek with your insurance carder in order to check whether you may have coverage for any liability related to this matter. When requested by the Mayor or Director of Administrative Services, we shall furnish periodic reports and documents on matters covered by this engagement letter. The reports and documents shall be furnished in the time and form requested. In order for us to assist you effectively and efficiently, we expect that you will provide us with the factual information you have which relates to the subject matter of our engagement, that you will make any appropriate business or technical decisions. In addition, we encourage you to share with us at all times your expectations and any concerns regarding our services at any time during the course of our representation. We believe that you should be actively involved in the strategy and management of your legal affairs and our goal is to encourage candid and frequent communication between us. We will keep you informed of developments regarding your matters and we will consult with you as necessary to insure the timely, effective and efficient completion of our work. After our representation is concluded, you may request return of your files. If you do not wish your files returned and wish the firm to retain them for you, we may charge you for the cost of continued storage. We will retain your files for three years following the conclusion of our representation. At that time, we will communicate with you to determine your preference for their disposition. If after reasonable efforts we are unable to locate you, we will destroy the files. Virus Protection During the course of our engagement, we may exchange electronic versions of documents and emails with you using commercially available software. Unfortunately, the technology community is occasionally victimized by the dissemination of viruses, or similar destructive electronic programs. We take the issues raised by these viruses seriously and have invested in document and email scanning software that identifies and rejects files containing known viruses. We update our system with the software vendor's most current releases at regular intervals. Nh'. Roger Lubovicit March 6, 2002 Page 5 Because protection against viruses is generally one or two steps behind new viruses, we cannot guarantee that our communications and documents will always be virus free. Although we believe our virus protection resources are excellent, we can make no warranty that our documents will be vires free at all times. Cessation of Legal Services At all times you shall have the right, with or without cause, to terminate our services upon written notice to that effect. Subject to the fulfillment of our obligations to maintain proper standards of professional conduct, we reserve the fight to terminate our services at anytime with or without cause and we shall withdraw in the following circumstances: a. If you fail to cooperate with us in any reasonable request; b. If our continuing to act on your behalf would be unethical or impractical; c. If you fail to pay our statements of account when rendered. If our services are terminated by you or by us, you will be responsible for our fees and disbursements to the date of termination. In the event of termination, we will ensure that you have a reasonable opportunity to obtain other counsel, and will famish said counsel, upon request, with a copy of relevant file documents in order to ensure an orderly transfer of the representation. We request that you review this letter carefully and, if it is consistent with your understanding of our respective responsibilities, please return a signed copy to me at your earliest convenience. Nh. Roger Lubovici~ March 6, 2002 Page 6 Mr. Lubovich, if you have any questions about our fee arrangements, please do not hesitate to contact us. Please confirm the City of Bremerton's agreement to these matters by signing a copy of this letter and returning it to us in the enclosed envelope. Very truly yours, LANE POWELL SPEARS LUBERSKY LLP Ada Ko In consideration of Lane Powell Spears Lubersky LLP's accepting the engagement described in this letter, the City of Bremerton agrees to pay all fees and disbursements incurred, together with interest as herein stated on amounts which are not paid within 60 days of the date of billing. (Date) Ci~ Ol-Bremerton ' (Authorized Signature)