by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Of the City’s nearly $980 million 2002-03 fiscal year budget, the State Attorney’s Office and the General Counsel’s Office are relatively small expenditures. With budgets similar to recent years, the good news for each office this year is additions — for State Attorney Harry Shorstein, it’s technological; for General Counsel Rick Mullaney, it is four new bodies.
Out of their $1.4 million operating budget, the State Attorney’s Office will spend $86,400 on a state-of-the-art case tracking system. Office executive director Kathy Weintraub said the old system was about 30 years old and extremely cumbersome to use. Often, attorneys and support staff had to wade through virtual hieroglyphics to track the progress of a case.
“The beauty of the new system is the screen speaks English,” said Weintraub. “There are still codes and statute numbers, but the charges come up in English. It will be a lot easier to use for everyone. We will be able to look up any case by name.”
For the past 30 years, the State Attorney’s Office records were kept on the same main frame. While Weintraub admits there was nothing wrong with that system, modern technology dictates that changing systems will ultimately prove worth the one-time expense.
“This is a very large move for us this year, going away from using the records on the main frame that we’ve been using for the past 30 years to a Windows program,” said Weintraub, adding the system is called STAC, an acronym that used to stand for something but is still used. “The program was written by a local firm — Computer Information and Planning.”
Weintraub said the system isn’t anything innovative, it’s just new to the local State Attorney’s Office. According to Weintraub, 35 of the state’s 40 Public Defender and State Attorney offices use the system, but Duval is just the latest to adopt the technology.
“They were never able to sell us on it,” she said. “After years and years of keeping our records the same way, we were hesitant until we saw that it worked so well.”
Together with the City’s Information Technology Division, the new case tracking system is slowly being implemented office-wide. Weintraub said the entire office should be converted by March 1.
Mullaney is also in the process of adding to his office in the form of two new assistant general counsels and administrative assistants. The two new attorneys will give Mullaney a staff of 37 lawyers and the accompanying support personnel help constitute a fiscal year budget of $7.4 million. Mullaney said the new staffers are needed to compliment a growing city and an office that’s as diverse as any office in the state.
“Counsel has approved two new attorneys,” he said. “One will handle land use and work with Council while the other will handle litigation. Because of our consolidated form of city government, we have the most unique public law office in the state. The City charter created this office to handle the legal services of the whole city.”
Tucked away in a section of the fourth floor at City Hall, most probably think the General Counsel’s Office handles primarily mayoral issues and legal matters. In fact, Mullaney’s office handles every legal issue for the City’s seven independent authorities (JEA, JAA, the School Board, just to name a few), the county’s five constitutional officers, the executive branch’s 10 departments and 46 divisions, 40 boards and commissions and the legislative branch — City Council — with its 19 members.
“It’s the most diverse client base of any public law office in the state and there’s a strong demand for our services,” said Mullaney.
Although no one has been hired yet, Mullaney said he’s currently interviewing experienced candidates. While Mullaney said he won’t hire any novice attorneys, his office hasn’t been shy about plucking some of the best legal minds from Jacksonville’s most prominent firms.
“We’ve been very fortunate in that we’ve had success in attracting talented lawyers from the private sector,” said Mullaney, who will celebrate five years as general counsel on Dec. 1. “We are always looking for talented people and when I see a talented lawyer, I try to talk to them about joining the office. We’ve had lawyers come to us from Holland & Knight, McGuire Woods, Smith Hulsey and Marks Gray.”
Mullaney said there is one obvious drawback to leaving the private sector for the General Counsel’s Office — you’re not going to get rich. But, Mullaney says he tries to present the job in a light that emphasizes all the positives associated with working in a civil capacity.
“I sit down and talk with them and present the full range of the General Counsel’s Office,” he said. “I talk about working on behalf of the public and the challenges of the job. I know the compensation is greater in the private sector, but I try to present the job as a complete package.”
Mullaney said there was no deadline for hiring the two new attorneys and time is not a deciding factor.
“It’s more important we get it right,” he said. “We want talented people.”