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I was going to wait until I got home to try to make a clear statement on
this, but since things are heating up now, I will try here.<br><br>
Regarding billing rates, I am WELL aware of this, but in the absence of
any real information, I took a stab at a typical hourly rate. <br><br>
The $500k charge may well include the CCWG, but the Board resolution was
quite explicit. If it is wrong, that is yet another significant
concern.<br><br>
I personally found it amazing that, to my knowledge, during our (the CWG
and CCWG) demands for external legal council, there were very few
questions about getting estimates of what this might cost. This directly
supports concerns by some Board members about the community being given
budget responsibility with any associated interest in the results or
implications of (some of) its decisions.<br><br>
I find ALL of this discussion driven by the paucity of information rather
perturbing, given that it is occurring within groups so (rightfully)
enamored by transparency and accountability.<br><br>
Someone mentioned that we have not yet seen the detailed bills. I
certainly hope that SOMEONE had seen them prior to approving payment, and
if we (ie ICANN staff or CWG/CCWG leadership) have them, I would be
interested in understanding the reasons for them not being
shared.<br><br>
Alan<br><br>
At 27/06/2015 12:26 PM, Greg Shatan wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">Alan,<br><br>
I believe (but stand to be corrected) that Sidley's bill covered their
work with both the CWG and CCWG. Their efforts on both fronts
started in March 2015. Also, Sidley's billing rates vary by
attorney, rather than there being just a single rate per hour for all
attorneys. (There are times when law firms will agree to bill on a
"blended rate" (i.e., all hours cost the same regardless of the
attorney) but it's a relatively uncommon practice.)<br>
<br>
Greg<br><br>
On Fri, Jun 26, 2015 at 12:56 AM, Alan Greenberg
<<a href="mailto:alan.greenberg@mcgill.ca">alan.greenberg@mcgill.ca</a>
> wrote:<br>
<dl>
<dd>Actually Chuck, the Board motion was approval of the costs incurred
through 31 March 2015, and Sidley Austin was only engaged on 6 March. So
that appears to be the charge for the first 3 weeks or so.<br><br>
<dd>My recollection is that they are billing a bit under $1000 per hour,
so that would amount (in round numbers to 500 hours or 60 8-hour days in
25 calendar days.<br><br>
<dd>Our Sidley legal team consists of several people, and presumably for
the first week or so, many of them were "catching up", which
presumably accounts for a fair part of this. Then, Holly and Sharon were
in Istanbul for several days.<br><br>
<dd>Overall, pretty high, but I am guessing the remaining months had a
lower per-month rate.<br><br>
<dd>Alan<br><br>
<dd>At 25/06/2015 05:55 PM, Gomes, Chuck wrote<br><br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">
<dd>Sean,<br><br>
<dd>500k to date not per month.<br><br>
<dd>Chuck<br><br>
<br>
<dd>Sent via the Samsung GALAXY S® 5, an AT&T 4G LTE
smartphone<br><br>
<br>
<dd>-------- Original message --------<br>
<dd>From: Seun Ojedeji
<<a href="mailto:seun.ojedeji@gmail.com">seun.ojedeji@gmail.com</a>
> <br>
<dd>Date:06/25/2015 5:42 PM (GMT-05:00) <br>
<dd>To: James Gannon
<<a href="mailto:james@cyberinvasion.net">james@cyberinvasion.net</a>
> <br>
<dd>Cc:
<a href="mailto:cwg-stewardship@icann.org">cwg-stewardship@icann.org</a>
<br>
<dd>Subject: Re: [CWG-Stewardship] Legal cost reality <br><br>
<dd>With due respect James, I am in no way belittling the work of legal
council. I am rather wondering how we as a community recognising this
huge cost did not better strategize on how/when to engage external
council. The amount that has been spent on all participants of the ccwg
and cwg(for remote/physical meetings) would seem to be competing with the
total cost of legal advice (perhaps legal would even be more).<br><br>
<dd>The deed has been done and we can't rewrite history. My comment is
targeted more on the fact that we need to think of how we engage legal
more efficiently going forward.<br><br>
<dd>For the record, when Greg said top notch council are expensive, 500k
monthly is just beyond my imagination!<br><br>
<dd>Regards<br><br>
<dd>sent from Google nexus 4<br>
<dd>kindly excuse brevity and typos.<br>
<dd>On 25 Jun 2015 18:23, "James Gannon"
<<a href="mailto:james@cyberinvasion.net">james@cyberinvasion.net</a>
> wrote:
<dl>
<dd>Our legal advice has been critical to our process and Sidley have
been crucial to our successes.
<dd>I think we should be thanking them for their service, and yes top
notch legal services are not cheap.
<dd>It is most certainly something that I have no issue with the
community exercising its prudence over however lets not limit ourselves
in any way to engage with our counsel.<br>
<dd>-James<br>
<dd>From: <<a href="mailto:cwg-stewardship-bounces@icann.org">
cwg-stewardship-bounces@icann.org</a>> on behalf of Seun Ojedeji
<dd>Date: Thursday 25 June 2015 18:15
<dd>To: "<a href="mailto:cwg-stewardship@icann.org">
cwg-stewardship@icann.org</a>"
<dd>Subject: [CWG-Stewardship] Legal cost reality<br>
<dd>Hi,
<dd>I hope those who want to always push issues to external legal advice
would appreciate the need to be strategic and prudent about this. Over
500,000USD already spent on Sidley is definitely not what we like ICANN
to keep spending it's resources on.<br>
<dd>Regards<br>
<dd>sent from Google nexus 4
<dd>kindly excuse brevity and typos.<br><br>
</dl>
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