New Mexico ethics board issues advisory opinion after AG’s office high payment to outside lawyers

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico’s ethics board has issued an advisory opinion on contracts entered into on a contingency basis in the wake of a report about how much the state attorney general’s office paid outside lawyers.

The Santa Fe New Mexican reported Thursday that the state AG’s office paid nearly three times as much as other states to negotiate opioid settlements.

The newspaper said the 11-page advisory opinion by the New Mexico State Ethics Commission concluded that the state’s procurement code generally applies to a state agency’s or local public body’s procurement of contingent-fee contracts for legal services.

A contingent-fee agreement occurs when a law firm does not bill or expect payment until and unless the contingency is achieved, according to the advisory opinion.

Lauren Rodriguez, a spokesperson for the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office, said in a statement that the contingency fee allocated as a part of the recent settlement with Walgreens “was paid pursuant to a contract that contained no limit on fees” and done before Attorney General Raúl Torrez took office.

She also said Torrez has instituted “a new policy that sets strict limits on contingency fee cases moving forward and will follow the practice of other state attorneys general in relying on in-house attorneys as local counsel whenever possible.”

Rodriguez added that the AG’s office didn’t receive the commission’s advisory opinion until Tuesday and still is reviewing the rationale and analysis.