On Monday, January 20, the Pleasant Prairie Village Board appointed Eric Larson, with Municipal Law and Litigation Group, as the official Village Attorney. The recommendation to move forward with Larson was made by the Village staff, who began evaluating legal services, costs, and alternatives during the 2020 budget process.
The Village has worked with multiple firms, based on specialty, to cover a variety of municipal legal disciplines. While the Village has maintained excellent legal representation and has excellent relationships with those firms, the lack of a specified general counsel has disadvantages. As the community has grown, so has the demand for minor or general legal services. With each new legal issue or service, the staff was required to evaluate and make a selection based on the firm’s billable rate, expertise, and familiarity with prior Village history. Sometimes there was no clear choice, or occasionally the firm selected would have a conflict of interest requiring the Village to search for an alternative.
Pleasant Prairie solicited proposals from five firms, received three responses, and recommended the appointment of Eric Larson, with Municipal Law and Litigation Group. Larson’s plan was the most competitive, not only in terms of price but also in terms of municipal legal service expertise. The Municipal Law and Litigation Group has extensive experience with municipal law and municipal practices. They are solely a municipal law firm that works with municipalities throughout Wisconsin as the municipal attorney of record and for specialized counsel. The firm also represents dozens of municipalities throughout Wisconsin in insurance defense matters, with 100 active cases pending at all levels of state and federal court.