The
new policy states that private attorneys must now bid on state legal work,
which is supervised by the Attorney General’s Office.
“This
policy sends a strong message that West
Virginia West Virginia
Morrisey
made the announcement Tuesday with the end of a 45-day period for public
comment regarding the policy.
During the
comment period, the Attorney General’s Office received six formal comment
letters that provided suggested improvements and/or clarifications to the
policy along with several informal comments expressing support for the
overall intent of the policy.
From
the comments, Morrisey’s office fine tuned the policy.
One
of those changes is that Morrisey’s office will now consider during a
competitive bidding process any potential conflicts of interest as well as
relevant input from the state entity client.
The
pre-bidding process was also revised to require both the re-evaluation of
the pre-approved attorney list at least every two years and a written determination
explaining the reasons for selecting a pre-approved attorney or firm any time
the pre-bid list is utilized.
The
new policy also requires Morrisey’s office to post written explanations for
hiring outside counsel on the attorney general’s website, except
when posting could jeopardize the attorney-client privilege or
confidential work product.
In
Tuesday’s release, Morrisey said he is pleased with the comments they got and
believes the policy is a lot better because of them.
“We
believe that our final policy on outside counsel strikes an appropriate balance
between the need for transparency and accountability in outside counsel hires
and the desire to provide the State and its agencies with top-notch legal
services,” stated Morrisey.
