Former high-ranking L.A. city attorney charged by State Bar over DWP billing scandal
The State Bar of California filed disciplinary charges Thursday against a former high-ranking official in the Los Angeles city attorney’s office for his alleged role in a Department of Water and Power scandal.
Jim Clark, a top deputy under then-City Atty. Mike Feuer, secretly directed other attorneys to orchestrate a class-action lawsuit so that claims over a botched DWP billing system could be settled on terms favorable to the city, State Bar prosecutors allege.
Clark “directed and authorized a scheme of collusion and deceit that was a blatant betrayal of his duties as an attorney and public official,” George Cardona, the Bar’s chief trial counsel, said in a statement.
Feuer, who has not been charged with any crimes, maintained his innocence this week.
Erin Joyce, an attorney for Clark, said the Bar was attempting to “tarnish Mr. Clark’s record and good name” based on unfounded allegations.
“Mr. Clark is a highly respected attorney who has enjoyed a distinguished legal career over the past 49 years, unblemished until now by a single complaint to the State Bar or by any allegation of ethical impropriety,” Joyce said.
If the charges are upheld by the State Bar Court, Clark faces disbarment, suspension or probation.
“Serious abuse of discovery by the city and its counsel” in the DWP case merited “considerable sanctions,” the judge said.
A partner for 30 years at the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Clark joined the city in 2013. He left to pursue mediation work in 2020, a year after the FBI raided his office and others as part of a criminal investigation into the sham lawsuit.
Clark, who wasn’t charged in the criminal probe, collects a city pension worth nearly $4,000 a month.
The State Bar complaint alleges that Clark “instructed” three attorneys working under a city contract to find “friendly counsel” to file a class-action lawsuit against the city over the faulty DWP billing system, which had issued erroneous bills to thousands of customers. One Van Nuys couple was billed nearly $52,000.
With an attorney on the plaintiffs’ side of the lawsuit colluding with the city’s team, the claims could be settled on terms favorable to the DWP.
Bar prosecutors also allege that Clark gave “false and misleading statements” in another lawsuit by denying his role in the sham lawsuit in a signed declaration. Clark also concealed information from the civil court overseeing the DWP lawsuits, prosecutors said.
Clark knowingly committed “acts involving moral turpitude, dishonesty, and corruption” in violation of the California Business and Professions Code, which is part of the State Bar Act, prosecutors said.
Clark faces additional State Bar charges for accepting $640 worth of tickets to a 2016 Who concert from an attorney involved in the collusive lawsuit and failing to report the gift as required under city law.
The State Bar has also filed charges against a former DWP commissioner and an outside attorney and has proposed a temporary suspension for a city attorney who works at the DWP — all in connection with the massive scandal.
Clark’s name appeared extensively in FBI search warrant affidavits made public in May after The Times sought their release from a federal court.
Former DWP general manager David Wright accused Clark of lying about his role in the collusive lawsuit, one affidavit stated.
Marisol Mork, another Clark attorney, told The Times in May that Wright’s “allegations are riddled with inaccuracies” and denied that Clark did anything wrong.
Multiple witnesses told FBI agents that Clark suffered from an unknown condition in 2017 and 2018 that affected his “functionality” at work and prompted him to take a medical leave, one of the affidavits said, with partial redactions to protect Clark’s privacy.
A top lawyer for the city of L.A. who oversaw the controversial DWP billing litigation has left the city attorney’s office.
In the affidavits, an FBI agent also said he believed Feuer, who served as city attorney from 2013 to 2022, had lied to government investigators and probably obstructed justice. Feuer disputes the agent’s allegations and maintains his innocence.
Four people, including onetime DWP general manager Wright and high-ranking officials in the city attorney’s office, pleaded guilty to various federal crimes, including bribery.
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