Rosen Friend-of-the Court Brief Supports Public Entities’ Access to Outside Counsel.

An article in the San Francisco Daily Journal on July 15, 2009 reviewed arguments in a closely-watched case concerning the ability of public entities to retain counsel on a contingent fee basis.  RBG partner Sanford Jay Rosen filed an amicus curiae brief in the California Supreme Court on behalf of a group of nine nationally-recognized legal ethics professors led by UC Irvine Dean Erwin Chemerinsky in the case.  The Daily Journal article quoted Rosen: “It is neither necessary nor appropriate under California law for public entities to be barred from hiring contingent-fee lawyers in such cases – especially in these turbulent economic and environmentally hazardous times.”  The case at the Supreme Court is County of Santa Clara v. Superior Court (Atlantic Richfield), S163681.