Attorney Joey Gilbert charged Douglas school district over $100K in two months alone despite yearly budget of $160K
Submitted by Kelsey Penrose on Wed, 10/04/2023 - 9:20am
In September, the Douglas County School District was placed in hot water when it came to light that their new attorney, Joey Gilbert, had charged the district more than $35,000 during his first month hired.
The majority of the amount charged did not go to Gilbert himself, but rather, a woman from his team named Keira Sears, who is not an attorney but is charging the same $325 per hour as if Gilbert were doing the work himself.
These charges included calls and emails with school board members, research into open meeting laws, and open meeting law violation research, among others.
Gilbert’s firm has no background in educational law, and minority board members accused the firm of charging the district to educate themselves.
Now, as the September invoices have been submitted, it’s been revealed that Gilbert charged double his August expenses at more than $74,000, bringing the total charged since he was hired to over $109,000.
By comparison, the previous law firm for the district charged less than $18,000 per month on average.
The entire legal budget the district has in place is only $160,000.
If Gilbert averages $55,000 per month for the rest of the school year, the district will spend $660,000 on Gilbert’s firm alone — surpassing their entire year’s budget before winter even begins.
The charges from Gilbert’s firm for September, which were obtained by The Nevada Independent, include:
- $25,000 for attending DCSD Board Meetings
- $17,000 for “Writ of Mandamus”
- $11,000 for General Board Administration
- $5,000 for Public Records Requests
- $5,000 for Open Meeting Law complaints
- $4,000 for “Employer-Employee Organizations”
- $7,500 for the firm’s monthly retainer fee.
In a special meeting to be held Friday, the board will terminate current superintendent Keith Lewis after nearly 30 years of service to the district. Lewis warned against the hiring of Gilbert due to costs.
To learn more about that story, click here.
