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New Jersey Legislation Would Mandate Fee Retainers

August 23, 2017 | Posted in : Ethics & Professional Responsibility, Fee Agreement, Hourly Rates, Legislation / Politics

A recent New Jersey Law Journal story by Michael Booth, “Bill, Spurred by Wray Representation, Would Mandate Retainers,” reports that one of Gov. Chris Christie's most persistent critics in the state Legislature is sponsoring a bill that effectively would have barred Christie's apparent hiring of high-profile lawyer Christopher Wray—now the FBI director—without a written retainer fee agreement.

Assembly Deputy Speaker John Wisniewski, D-Middlesex, has introduced A-5179, which would require retainer fee agreements between any state agency and private counsel to be memorialized in writing within 30 days of the attorney's retention.  The bill, which has not yet been assigned to a committee, would prohibit a firm from being paid with public funds if the 30-day requirement is not met.

Wray, according to reports, was Christie's personal attorney for 11 months during the Bridgegate investigation, and while Christie was gearing up to run for the Republican nomination for president—before Wray and the administration signed a retainer agreement.

Wray, then of the Washington, D.C., office of King & Spalding, began representing Christie in September 2014 but did not sign a retainer agreement until August of the following year.  Ultimately, Wray and other lawyers at the firm, which charged a blended rate of $340 an hour, racked up about $2 million in fees and costs, reports said.

New York public radio station WNYC first reported the arrangement between Wray and Christie on July 24.  A day later, Wisniewski voiced his concern about the lack of a retainer agreement, which he pointed out would have been a document available to the press and public.

"This is highly unusual and raises questions about whether Gov. Christie was trying to hide this cost and legal representation from the public," Wisniewski said in a statement at the time.  "Mr. Wray and his colleagues ended up costing taxpayers $2 million, yet the governor did not even take basic steps to provide public transparency and uphold ethics standards.