How private attorneys get paid by the city

(a) Private attorneys shall bill the city on a monthly basis for services rendered. The billing shall identify the attorneys rendering services, the number of hours or fraction of an hour each attorney has worked, a description of the legal work performed, and an itemization of the costs being billed and the date each cost was incurred. (b) All billings for payment of legal fees to a private attorney shall be submitted to the department of corporation counsel for review and approval. Before making payment, the corporation counsel shall notify the council in writing that a billing for payment has been received and the amount of billing. The notification shall specify that unless objected to in writing by a majority of the council, the billing shall be approved for payment within 30 days from the council’s receipt of the corporation counsel’s notice. Upon request of a councilmember, the corporation counsel shall transmit copies of the billing to the councilmember. (c) In the event a majority of the council objects to the payment of all or a portion of the billing, the corporation counsel shall bring the objection to the attention of the private attorney and attempt to resolve the matter to the satisfaction of the council. No payment to the private attorney shall be made for any billing for which an objection has been made by a majority of the council and not resolved.