Daily Point

Blakeman's friendly and well-paid lawyers

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman has spent extravagantly on legal representation during his first term. Often these outside counsels are politically connected lawyers Blakeman hobnobs with personally, and some have gotten contracts awarded at higher fees than Nassau’s standard allowance for government work. The firms have been hired to defend some of Blakeman’s controversial laws or respond to lawsuits challenging county procedures and actions by its workers, according to a review of county documents.

Several million dollars are going to big law firms such as Sullivan & Cromwell, which was unsuccessful in defending the county’s environmental review for a casino at the Nassau Hub. The firm has been engaged again by Blakeman for

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