Publications: State Government Relations
Contingency Fee Monitoring

We are all familiar with the plaintiff lawyers' contingency fee. Now, a new variation on that theme has entered the world of state legislative monitoring.

You could call it Contingency Fee Monitoring. A state contract lobbyist is "hired" by a lobbying brokerage firm to provide legislative monitoring for a client. The lobbyist receives no compensation but is promised support in securing a contract from the client (a company or trade association) if the legislative process yields something troubling. That's the contingency.

We think the scheme raises some disturbing questions.

First, it is a lobbyist's responsibility to provide services to the client. In the case of contingency fee monitoring - who is the client? Is it the company or association that hired the broker in the first place or is it the broker? If the lobbyist is obligated to both, is there a conflict between a client who wants to get things settled quickly, quietly and less expensively and a broker who gets a percentage of a lobbyist's retainer?

Second, clients expect early warning about relevant proposals and savvy political information. Achieving both those goals requires training in the client's issue and thoughtful interviews with legislators, staff, advocates and opponents. How can a lobbyist do that thoughtfully for non-paying "clients?"

Third, what happens when the lobbyist no longer thinks that getting hired is a possibility that session? Is monitoring for the non-paying client relegated to the bottom of the "to do" list? What leverage does the client have in that case?

Contingency fee monitoring also perpetuates the "lobbyist-as-ambulance-chaser" stereotype. One cannot be in this kind of scheme without the client --- at least sometime - wondering if what the lobbyist did or failed to do improved his chances of being retained to work on an issue. That may be unfair and just plain wrong, but it will be considered.

What do you think about Contingency Fee Monitoring? Let us know by sending email to stateside@stateside.com.