Local Firm May Lose Defenders Contract

A private law firm that defended clients in some of the biggest murder trials of the past two decades may be losing its county contract to a San Joaquin Valley law firm that is offering to do the job at half the cost.

Partners in Conflict Defense Associates said it was told late Thursday that judges appear to favor a county committee’s decision to ask the Board of Supervisors to bring in John A. Barker & Associates to handle cases ranging from petty theft to murder.

James Farley, a founding partner, said he was told in a meeting with Superior Court Presiding Judge Charles Campbell and Assistant Presiding Judge Bruce Clark that Barker’s Madera-based firm will get the nod because Barker is proposing to provide legal services for $1.1 million--less than half the $2.4-million bid made by Conflict Defense Associates.

“There is no way I could have met their bid and offer what I call adequate representation,” said Farley, who seemed stunned by the possibility his firm might be booted out after serving the county for 18 years.

He and co-founder Willard Wiksell have built their careers around the county contract, representing defendants in numerous high-profile murder cases. Conflict Defense Associates handles about 375 felony and 500 misdemeanor cases annually.

“Eighteen years and we are thrown to the side without even a chance to talk,” Farley said. “I expected a little bit more.”

Courthouse sources said the judges have not met to discuss the issue. But it is widely anticipated a county committee reviewing the contracts will recommend it be given to Barker & Associates and it’s expected the judges will go along.

News of the rival contract spread quickly through the Ventura courthouse Friday.

“The bottom line is money,” said William Maxwell, a Conflict Defense Associates attorney for the past 13 years. He said there is no doubt in his mind that the firm is on the way out. “If you want Mississippi justice, that might be what they are opting for.”

Maxwell said he had planned a vacation in July. “I don’t think I’ll do that now,” he said.

Other lawyers called the outside firm “carpetbaggers” and expressed concern over its qualifications. They questioned how the firm can properly defend clients, particularly in high-stakes and complex death-penalty cases, for so little money.

“It’s a good deal for the county, financially, but it is not a good deal for the people accused of crimes,” said defense attorney Tim Quinn, formerly of Conflict Defense Associates. “My fear is that they won’t get adequate representation.”

Judges to Meet Next Week on Issue

Campbell confirmed the court’s 26 judges will meet Wednesday to hear a presentation by a six-member county committee--made up of county and court employees--that is screening bids for the defense work. The bench will then vote and issue a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors, Campbell said. The supervisors are expected to vote on the contract June 15.

But Campbell denied any decision has been made. Judges will take the bid amounts into consideration, Campbell said, but will also weigh the quality of representation.

The presiding judge acknowledged a vote against Farley’s firm would be difficult because Ventura County’s legal community is tight-knit. But it is the bench’s obligation to pick a firm that is cost-effective as well as competent, he said.

“I can understand the angst and anxiety that [Conflict Defense Associates attorneys] might have,” he said. “But at the same time, we have an obligation not to spend the public’s money if it’s not necessary.”

Campbell said he has talked with several people about Barker’s reputation and has heard both good and bad comments. But the jurist said he generally received positive reports from people “who appear unbiased in any way.”

Indigent defendants are referred to Ventura-based Conflict Defense Associates when the public defender’s office is representing a client in the same case and therefore has a conflict of interest.

In the high-profile Sherri Dally murder case, for instance, defendant Diana Haun was represented by two deputy public defenders while her co-defendant and ex-lover, Michael Dally, was assigned to Farley and defense attorney Robert Schwartz.

The firm’s contracts were routinely renewed because there were no other bids, said Robert Sherman, a program analyst in the county administrator’s office. But county officials decided this year to aggressively seek bids by advertising in legal journals and on the Internet, Sherman said.

The county’s objective was to make it a more competitive process, he said. But officials were also concerned about habitual cost overruns. Conflict Defense Associates has run $1.4 million over budget in the past three years, Sherman said.

Barker was the only other firm to place a bid, offering to do the work for $1.1 million a year, officials said. Barker’s firm would be paid an additional flat rate of $35,000 to $65,000 for each death-penalty case it takes on, Sherman said.

Conflict Defense Associates’ bid was for $2.4 million, which includes representation in one death-penalty case, Sherman said. The firm would charge the county $100,000 for each additional death-penalty case, he said.

Barker Has Pacts With Five Counties

Barker & Associates has been in business 11 years and is headed by John A. Barker. The law firm, with 53 attorneys, is based in Madera but provides defense services in five California counties--Madera, Fresno, Amador, Trinity and Modoc. Barker was not available for comment Friday.

Barker is a longtime Madera County resident, a former Marine and a former officer in the Chowchilla Police Department, according to newspaper articles in the San Joaquin Valley.

Those articles also detail conflicts Barker has faced in the past.

His public defender contract with Madera County came under fire three years ago after a lawyer complained to the State Bar Assn., which later urged the county to conduct an audit “to determine whether the standards of representation are meeting current legal requirements.”

And in a case that mirrors the situation in Ventura County, Barker drew the wrath of a law firm in Placer County in 1994 when he sought a public defender contract there. Barker’s four-year proposal was $3.4 million lower than the other firm.

Barker was reported at the time as saying: “We do the job . . . I’ll stack my attorneys up against anybody in the state.”

In a 3-2 vote, the Placer County Board of Supervisors voted against Barker’s proposal in favor of attorney Leonard Tauman’s firm, which had provided indigent defense services the previous four years.

In that fight, a judge argued that more than money was on the line, saying Tauman’s lawyers were more experienced than Barker’s.

The calls to replace Conflict Defense Associates are not new. A preliminary county audit found in 1991 that the county could save up to $750,000 a year by creating a second public defender’s office instead of rehiring the private firm.

No action was taken. Two years ago, again concerned about costs, the county hired a private consultant to explore less costly alternatives to the firm. The consultant concluded the firm “does a good job,” but also recommended the county consider encouraging other bidders to increase competition for the contract.

Farley attributed recent budget overruns to a spate of death-penalty cases, which require the use of more attorneys and investigators, and the firm’s tradition of submitting low contract estimates.

If he loses the contract, his law firm would most likely shut down by July 1, putting 30 people out of work, Farley said.

“I’m getting too old for this,” he said. “I’m 64 and I’m supposed to be ending my career, not starting a whole new one.”