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'Crisis' pays for interim counsel

By MICHAEL VAN SICKLER
Published January 23, 2007

TAMPA - The Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority was mired in a crisis and needed immediate help with mounting legal troubles.

That was a key reason Rhea Law was hired as the interim general counsel in September, agency officials explained at the time.

On Monday, more than four months after Law was hired, the Expressway Authority voted unanimously to add more money to the budget so that Law and her firm, Fowler White, could be paid up to a half-million dollars, if need be.

That total for an interim job is nearly what the agency paid its previous permanent legal counsel, Steve Anderson, and his firm for a year's work. Anderson was fired in late August with little explanation. After the vote, some board members said he had billed too much - about $550,000 in his last year at the agency.

No such complaints were made by board members Monday.

"We were in a crisis, so we had to get somebody," said board member Bob Clark, a critic of Anderson's and his bills. "I'm sure she's worth it."

As the first female CEO of a major Florida law firm, Law is active in the business community and is widely regarded as one of the most powerful lawyers in the Tampa Bay area.

Law served on Charlie Crist's transition team after he was elected attorney general.

When hired, she was to advise the Expressway Authority in daily activities and assist with the governor's investigation into alleged improprieties and a subsequent investigation by the Auditor General's Office. Both investigations questioned the fees the agency paid outside attorneys and consultants.

How the agency decided to hire Law is unclear.

Michael Van Sickler can be reached at 813 226-3402 or mvansickler@sptimes.com.

[Last modified January 23, 2007, 00:42:35]