LOCAL

MSU's legal costs for Nassar top $1 million after $575K bill for February

Lansing State Journal

EAST LANSING - A Chicago-based law firm billed Michigan State University $575,000 for work performed in a single month as the university continues to grapple with lawsuits and internal investigations related to former MSU doctor Larry Nassar.

That bill, received in May for work performed in February, pushed the university's total cost for outside law firms — the university has contracted at least four — to more than $1 million. The total, which doesn't include work performed in May or June or work by the most expensive law firm after February, will continue to rise significantly as the university begins to respond to the multiple lawsuits it is facing.

Little is known about what the university is being billed for because the descriptions of work performed on every invoice the university provided to the State Journal through public records requests has been redacted. The State Journal's appeal of those redacations was denied.

MSU spokesman Jason Cody declined to comment on what attorneys were doing.

"I can't speak for the public," he said, when asked if the public knows enough about how more than $1 million has been spent. "All I can speak to is what we’re doing. We’ve been very clear about what these law firms have been brought in to do."

Dates and hours worked are shown on the invoices, but details on what attorneys did have been redacted.

Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald is one of four from the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom who each are billing MSU $990 per hour of work. The firm was originally hired, MSU said, to provide "guidance on how the university can best conduct the (internal investigation) so as to not interfere" with law enforcement investigations.

In April, Fitzgerald started filing appearances in the federal lawsuits as an attorney of record for MSU and its Board of Trustees.

Cody said this week that when the university hired Fitzgerald and his law firm in October it did so with the plan that all the attorneys could or would eventually handle litigation.

In May, Skadden sent MSU a bill for $575,014, with $32,377 of that for computer legal research and the rest for attorneys and legal assistants, who recorded 653.2 hours worked.

Miller, Canfield Paddock and Stone, a Detroit-based law firm, billed MSU in April and May for a combined $82,479 for work performed in March and April. As of the end of May, the law firm had billed MSU for $144,469 and recorded 438 hours of work.

As of the end of May, the Skadden firm had billed the university for $869,449 and recorded 995 hours of work.

The university has said it's paying the law firms using income generated by its investment office that doesn't come from endowment funds.

Nassar, 53, of Holt, is facing 18 criminal charges split between state and federal courts, including 15 sexual assault charges related to his role as a doctor.

To date, more than 100 women and girls have said to police or in court documents that Nassar sexually assaulted them, the vast majority saying it occurred during medical appointments. Many said it happened MSU.

Nearly 100 women and girls have sued MSU, saying the university didn't do enough to protect them.

Related:Full coverage: Larry Nassar

Contact Matt Mencarini at (517) 267-1347 or mmencarini@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattMencarini.