Mica After Amtrak on Mishandling of Legal Bills

Trains Magazine General Discussion
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U.S. review finds Amtrak mismanages legal billing

(Reuters circulated the following article on October 25.)

WASHINGTON – Amtrak mismanaged its legal affairs over a three-year period by failing to properly maintain billing and other records related to its outside lawyers, transportation investigators said on Wednesday.

The Transportation Department inspector general and Amtrak’s in-house auditor found the passenger railroad spent an estimated $102 million for private counsel between 2002-05. More than $40 million in fees went to 10 law firms.

Investigators concluded that Amtrak preferred large pricey law firms, used highly paid attorneys and staff for uncomplicated work, and failed to properly audit billing and other records.

Rep. John Mica, a Florida Republican and frequent critic of Amtrak’s finances, said there were documented cases of overbilling.

From BLET Site

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Gabe -

For that kind of $$ I’ll bet we could whip that legal department into shape and get great counsel and still save a few $Mil. Whaddya think?

LC

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If you could do that and figure out a way to make Amtrak a privatized profitable operation, Rep Mica would probably overlook a “few” mistakes in the billing. Just don’t mess with the AutoTraom/