California AG is sued by his office’s lawyers for outsourcing climate case - E&E News by POLITICO
In-house attorneys say it was illegal for Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) to hire an outside firm to oversee the high-profile case against the oil industry. The union — California Attorneys, Administrative Law Judges and Hearing Officers in State Employment (CASE) — argued that hiring outside lawyers violates state law and is dispiriting for the 1,100 attorneys on staff.But most challenges have come from outside groups: Wisconsin’s dairy industry sued the state attorney general in February for using an outside lawyer to work on environmental cases, and groups that are critical of climate lawsuits asked two influential House panels in April to examine the District of Columbia’s use of outside lawyers. The California union filed suit in February against the State Personnel Board after it upheld Bonta’s decision to hire the law firm.California Attorney General Rob Bonta's (D) decision to bypass his own staff when selecting lawyers for a climate case is being challenged by a union.California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s decision to hire an outside law firm to handle a high-profile climate lawsuit has drawn its own legal challenge — from lawyers in his office.