Council questions $1.3M Brown settlement legal costs as outside counsel spending rises

Cleveland’s law director confirmed at the Feb. 26 budget committee hearing that the city used outside counsel in high-profile matters and that spending on outside legal services can be substantial.

Mark Griffin said outside counsel expenses related to the settlement with the Browns totaled about $1,300,000 through the date of the settlement announcement and noted continuing litigation where outside lawyers remain engaged. He explained the department uses outside firms when in-house conflicts exist, specialized expertise is required, or appellate work or labor negotiations demand outside skills. "We did," Griffin said, "use outside counsel" in the Browns matter.

Council members questioned whether the city should invest more in in‑house specialists to reduce recurring outside counsel costs, pointing to a roughly $6.5 million spend on outside counsel in the prior year and a line in the budget for outside counsel going forward. Griffin said some matters — such as U.S. Supreme Court-level appeals or complex labor negotiations and the Browns deal — are historically handled by firms with particular expertise.

The committee also discussed revenue and cost-avoidance work by the department. Griffin said the department recovered about $4.3 million for the city last year through litigation and collections and cited opioid-related funds and other recoveries. He repeated that the law department handled roughly 29,000–30,000 public-records requests in 2025.

Next steps: Council members asked staff to provide more detailed breakout of outside-counsel spending by matter type and to analyze whether selective investments in salaries for in-house specialists could reduce external legal costs.