Michael Bloomberg Is Paying A Climate Prosecutor $125,000 To Work ‘Pro Bono’ For Maryland’s AG

A climate prosecutor employed by Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh on a “pro bono” basis is taking a $125,000 salary from a group backed by billionaire Michael Bloomberg, according to the nonprofit law firm Government Accountability & Oversight (GAO).

The State Energy and Environmental Impact Center is a New York University (NYU) School of Law program that places professional lawyers with years of experience into the offices of blue state attorneys general. The center is funded by Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City and a climate change activist.

Bloomberg’s NYU charity project completely covers the salary of its fellows and, in return, the attorneys work out of the state AG offices to push climate litigation that Bloomberg is interested in.

Frosh applied Maryland for the center’s fellowship program and set the salary of the “Pro Bono [sic] Special Counsel” prosecutor hired through the State Energy and Environmental Impact Center. Frosh classifying the attorney as pro bono is “problematic” and may put the AG’s office in legal trouble of its own, according to GAO.

Under Maryland law, “‘pro bono,’ of course, means that not only does the client not need to pay, but also the attorney represents the client without compensation,” Maryland’s state court of appeals said in the 2015 ruling in State vs. Westray, pointed out by GAO.

More
Post A Comment
  • Blogger Comment using Blogger
  • Facebook Comment using Facebook
  • Disqus Comment using Disqus

No comments :