Lansing Capital Area Transportation Authority lawyer made $460K in 2016
LANSING - The Capital Area Transportation Authority spent nearly $500,000 on legal expenses in fiscal year 2016, considerably more than the legal expenses for three comparable Michigan transit agencies that same year.
The majority of that money went to Troy-based firm, Chandler, Bujold & Chandler, for a wide range of services at CATA, including tasks commonly handled by human resources personnel.
The firm doesn't adhere to billing practices set forth in its contract with the agency, documents show, and doesn't include an hourly breakdown in billing invoices even though CATA's other law firms do.
But CATA CEO Sandra Draggoo defended the agency's reliance on lawyer Dan Chandler, who has worked for CATA for more than two decades and whose firm billed CATA an average of $371,572 annually in the last five fiscal years.
Read more: http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/local/2017/06/02/cata-high-legal-bills-not-uncommon/349270001/