December 4, 2025
By Dominique Scarimbolo, CAPR King County President
King County’s Outside Counsel Monopoly: How Taxpayer Dollars Are Used to Block Taxpayers
Through extensive public-records requests, CAPR has uncovered a deeply troubling pattern inside King County government: the County has spent over $56 million on outside legal counsel since the year 2000—despite already employing hundreds of attorneys in-house.
The records we obtained show 20,334 payments to 1,607 different payees, with a staggering $43.6 million (about 78%) of all spending going to 629 private law firms. These are not small solo practices—many are major institutional firms with the staff, resources, and litigation power normally needed to stand up to government agencies.
But once a firm is paid by King County, it becomes “conflicted out” of representing any citizen who wants to challenge the County. This practice effectively monopolizes the legal marketplace, leaving ordinary residents unable to hire the very attorneys most capable of defending them.
It’s Worse Than the Numbers Suggest
This dataset does NOT include any outside counsel paid through the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, which keeps its own separate internal records. That means millions more in outside legal spending remains undisclosed.
Additionally, although records were requested back to the year 2000, King County claims that most documents older than 10 years are no longer retained due to their internal retention policy. As a result, the $56 million we documented likely represents only a partial picture. The real total is certainly much higher.
The Impact on Citizens
King County is using public funds to create a closed legal loop:
· The County hires major private law firms.
· Those firms are then ethically barred from taking cases against the County.
· Residents trying to defend their rights can’t hire them—even when those firms are the only ones with adequate expertise.
Taxpayer dollars are being used to shield the government from the taxpayers themselves.
CAPR’s Position
This is not just waste—it’s a structural abuse of power. CAPR is supporting a statewide legislative solution: the Public Counsel Integrity Act, which would prohibit municipal governments from hiring outside counsel, except under extremely narrow, time-limited emergencies. Legal work would return to public attorneys and interlocal agreements—restoring accountability and transparency.
Citizens should never be forced to pay for the same law firms that later refuse to defend them. Washington taxpayers deserve a legal system that is accessible, fair, and not quietly monopolized by the government they fund.
December 4, 2025