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Quichocho fees total $600K
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Posted on Feb 14 2006
A private attorney has earned almost $600,000 in legal fees since he was hired by the Marianas Public Lands Authority two years ago.
Attorney Ramon K. Quichocho charges MPLA $175 per hour of legal service, according to a document obtained by the House of Representatives.
He was hired on Nov. 28, 2003 at an original contract amount of $95,000. His contract has been renewed or modified several times, bringing the total amount to $620,000.
Quichocho has so far received a total payment of $582,558.19. This leaves a balance of $37,441.81 on his contract.
From November 2003 through the end of fiscal year 2004, the private attorney was paid $160,140.19 for 915 hours of legal service.
In FY 2005, MPLA paid Quichocho a total of $331,594 in legal fees. This represents payment for a total of 1,895 hours—or an average of 36 hours per week.
For the first four months of the current fiscal year, Quichocho has received legal fees amounting to $90,824 for 519 hours of service.
Apart from legal fees, Quichocho charges MPLA per diem fees and other costs each time he travels outside Saipan. His travel advances reported totaled $37,185 between February 2005 and January 2006 alone.
Quichocho works for MPLA as an independent contractor.
The authority has an in-house legal counsel, Alan L. Lane, who is paid an annual salary of $80,000 plus fringe benefits. MPLA’s hearing officer Ramon S. Dela Cruz earns a salary of $60,000, plus government employment benefits.
At one point, MPLA had six lawyers on its payroll, including Lane, Dela Cruz, and Quichocho. The other attorneys hired on contract basis were Mark Smith, Anthony Long, and now acting Attorney General Matthew T. Gregory.
