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The untold story: The fancy Washington law firm that is working really, really hard for Minnesota • Minnesota Reformer [1]
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Date: 2025-07-10
Republicans are all in a huff this week over a legal bill incurred by Gov. Tim Walz’s office as he prepared for the phony, demagogic congressional hearing on “sanctuary” states that treat immigrants like human beings with rights.
As the Star Tribune first reported, the bill came to $430,000 between April and mid-June, when Walz appeared before Congress.
Here’s what Walz, a former congressman, said about it Wednesday: “Yes, it’s expensive. (The congressional hearing) was unnecessary. We are not a sanctuary state. I certainly sat through eight hours and answered all of their questions.”
He continued: “So yes, it’s ridiculous. It’s why we asked them to allow us not to have to be there. Certainly I would tell you what. It’s not where I wanted to spend money, it’s not where I wanted to spend my time. And it certainly proved that there was nothing there other than using it as grandstanding.”
Walz had sought the assistance of the state’s chief legal officer, Attorney General Keith Ellison, but the AG’s office recommended Walz find outside counsel that specializes in the kind of Punch and Judy show usually on offer from congressional hearings.
So they hired K&L Gates — formerly Preston Gates & Ellis — to prep for the roughly seven-hour hearing, which also included Walz’s fellow Democrats Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Admittedly, that’s some expensive prep: $61,428 for every hour of the congressional hearing.
OK, sure, that seems like a lot of money, but let’s do some more math.
The bill for the month of May was $232,000 at an average rate of about $516 an hour, the Strib reported, citing an invoice.
What’s missing from the Star Tribune report is the next calculation:
At $516 per hour, that’s roughly 450 hours in May alone! To prepare for a seven-hour congressional hearing. (Walz says it was eight.)
Translation: These fancy D.C. lawyers were working really hard for the people of Minnesota.
Another calculation: 450 billable hours is 24 hours per day, for 18.75 days.
Or about 110 hours per week, during the month of May.
Am I glad that I never went to law school — when do they eat or sleep?!
Apparently, we’re not the only ones privileged to pay for the services of hardworking D.C. lawyers.
The office of Boston Mayor Michelle Wu told the Boston Globe that they expected to pay up to $650,000 to the firm of Cahill Gordon & Reindel, at $950 per hour, to prepare the mayor for what the Globe called a “widely lauded” and “defiant” appearance before Congress in March. (You get what you pay for!) The work also included the “committee’s investigation into Boston’s immigration policies, and the preparation of documents requested by the committee.”
Either way, I sure hope these lawyers finally get some time off to enjoy the beach houses that Minnesotans are helping to pay for.
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