LETTER TO WILL CHEN

 

Mr. Chen you are a Certified Public Accountant. Every few years you must take Continuing Education Courses. Some of those Courses include ethics training. Simple question, would you ever violate those ethical principles and jeopardize your license?  Let me answer that question for you, of course not.

If you are elected to Edmonds City Council, who will you represent?  Will you represent the citizens of Edmonds or instead represent the interests of the Mayor, City Employees and their consultants.

The following is an one example; The Lighthouse Law Group, PLLC contract provides the following:

Payment for Services. a. The Except as provided in Section 3.b, below, the City will pay LIGHTHOUSE for the services specified in the sum of $47,96449,883 a month (the flat fee). This amount may be adjusted in future years with the mutual consent of the parties. Any request for increase in the flat fee shall be submitted by September 1 of any year for consideration in the budget process. If LIGHTHOUSE'S request for an increase is denied, it may terminate this agreement by providing sixty (60) days written notice. In the absence of a specific request for increase of the flat fee, the flat fee shall increase on January 1 of each year by 4%. Approval of a budget including a proposed or negotiated flat fee shall be deemed to amend the rate set forth above, effective January 1 of the following year. b. If any of the Option Triggering Events described in Section 3.c, below, occur, LIGHTHOUSE shall have the option to convert the flat fee compensation arrangement described in Section 3.a, above, to an hourly compensation arrangement. If exercised by LIGHTHOUSE, this option will have the effect of applying the hourly rates described in Section 3.d, below to all of the work performed by LIGHTHOUSE in the year 2020, including work that was performed prior to the Option Triggering Event, but not to any work that was performed prior to January 1, 2020. LIGHTHOUSE shall have the ability to exercise this option, if triggered, at any time after the Option Triggering Event by sending written notice to the City of its decision to exercise the option. If the option is exercised, LIGHTHOUSE shall send the City invoices that reflect the additional hourly charges owing after crediting any flat fee payments previously made by the City. c. Any of the following shall constitute Option Triggering Events for the purposes of triggering the option in Section 3.b, above: i. The City terminates the Agreement with LIGHTHOUSE; ii. The City approves an in-house City Attorney position; or iii. The City does not renew the Agreement with LIGHTHOUSE for the year 2021

Washington Bar Association Rules of Professional Conduct states RPC Fees 1.5 (f) (2) A lawyer may charge a flat fee for specified legal services, which constitutes complete payment for those services and is paid in whole or in part in advance of the lawyer providing the services. If agreed to in advance in a writing signed by the client, a flat fee is the lawyer’s property on receipt, in which case the fee shall not be deposited into a trust account under Rule 1.15A. The written fee agreement shall, in a manner that can easily be understood by the client, include the following: (i) the scope of the services to be provided; (ii) the total amount of the fee and the terms of payment; (iii) that the fee is the lawyer’s property immediately on receipt and will not be placed into a trust account; (iv) that the fee agreement does not alter the client’s right to terminate the client-lawyer relationship; and (v) that the client may be entitled to a refund of a portion of the fee if the agreed-upon legal services have not been completed. A statement in substantially the following form satisfies this requirement: [Lawyer/law firm] agrees to provide, for a flat fee of $__________, the following services:

_____________________________________. The flat fee shall be paid as follows: _____________________________. Upon [lawyer’s/law firm’s] receipt of all or any portion of the flat fee, the funds are the property of [lawyer/law firm] and will not be placed in a trust account. The fact that you have paid your fee in advance does not affect your right to terminate the client-lawyer relationship. In the event our relationship is terminated before the agreed-upon legal services have been completed, you may or may not have a right to a refund of a portion of the fee.

Would you vote to approve a City Attorney Contract with a claw-payback clause approved by the Edmonds City Council on November 4, 2019?