Alabama Joins Vanguard of States Enacting Outside Counsel Sunshine Laws

Last week, Alabama Governor Robert Bentley signed a law promoting transparency and capping contingency fees when the state attorney general, a state agency, or elected officials hire outside private plaintiff attorneys to represent the state.

Through this new “sunshine” law, Alabama has taken a significant step to rein in the troublesome practice of awarding contingency fee contracts to plaintiffs’ lawyers who are also major campaign contributors to the state attorney general.

Such “pay-to-play” schemes enrich lawyers at the expense of taxpayers and raise significant concerns about conflicts of interest, favoritism, and the use of a public entity for personal gain, and fairness in prosecutions.