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Saturday, October 25, 2003 FEDS...FOR THE DEFENSE; CITY HIRES EX-FEDERAL PROSECUTORS TO HELP DEAL WITH FBI PROBE PAUL D. DAVIES; daviesp@phillynews.com The city has hired two former federal prosecutors to provide legal help in response to the FBI's ongoing corruption probe of the Street administration. The two former assistant U.S. attorneys, Gregory T. Magarity and Gregory P. Miller, were brought in to help the city's Law Department respond to a series of federal subpoenas and raids on city offices. The city is using tax dollars to pay for Magarity's and Miller's legal services. The two lawyers are charging the city a discounted hourly rate ranging from $135 to $200 per hour, according to Mayor Street's spokeswoman, Barbara Grant. In addition, the city is spending up to $100 per hour for the services of outside paralegals, Grant said. The Daily News was unable to reach Magarity or Miller for comment. Defense attorneys not involved in the case described the hiring of the former federal prosecutors as a smart legal move. "In the face of a federal grand jury probe, it is good to have people who know criminal law and how the system works," said Henry E. Hockeimer Jr., a white-collar-crime defense attorney at Hangley Aronchick Segal & Pudin. The outside lawyers hired by the city have experience prosecuting and defending similar cases. The attorneys in the city Law Department deal mainly with civil cases. As former federal prosecutors, Magarity and Miller know what internal information is privileged and what needs to be turned over to investigators, other defense attorneys interviewed said. "The city is operating in a different world than it is used to," said Jack Meyerson, a white-collar-crime defense attorney and former assistant U.S. attorney. "They don't want to make a mistake that would damage their position." But in providing the legal help, the attorneys' fiduciary responsibility is to the city and not individual employees or officials, the defense attorneys said. "If it looks like the mayor or someone else has exposure, then they may say you need to get your own lawyer," said Douglas McNabb, a federal-white-collar-crime defense attorney based in Houston. Magarity and Miller are not providing legal representation to Street or any other city official, Grant said. Street, who is a subject but not the target of the investigation, has received advice from Arthur Makadon, chairman of Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll. It is unclear if Street is paying for Makadon's services. Rather than disclose that Makadon is his attorney, Street has described him as "his good friend." Ballard Spahr receives millions of dollars a year in city legal business. | |