There's some interesting number crunching to be found on the Vancouver Sun's Report Card blog from last week, as the Sun blog's author and Education reporter Janet Steffenhagen goes up and down the Statement of Information Files seeking out information regarding legal fees.
In the course of her research for a blog item on where the money is being spent, she has found that a Vancouver law firm Harris and Company is finding that billable hours are pretty rewarding when it comes to school work.
The law firm it seems has found that BC's School Districts are apparently in need of a fair amount of legal assistance these days, with the Vancouver area boards of course providing the most amount of time required and providing the most compensation for assistance.
And while it seems that things are busy on the Lower Mainland, it appears that School District 52 has done its fair share of adding to the accounts receivable at Harris and Company as well.
The most recent numbers for the Surrey District the largest in the province come from 2007-08, which saw the District pay out $509,804, up from the year before when their payment was $317,000.
Vancouver the second largest district paid out $368,630 and Coquitlam the number three district was billed for $119,608. The updated numbers for the Vancouver area boards will be released in December.
In the course of her research for a blog item on where the money is being spent, she has found that a Vancouver law firm Harris and Company is finding that billable hours are pretty rewarding when it comes to school work.
The law firm it seems has found that BC's School Districts are apparently in need of a fair amount of legal assistance these days, with the Vancouver area boards of course providing the most amount of time required and providing the most compensation for assistance.
And while it seems that things are busy on the Lower Mainland, it appears that School District 52 has done its fair share of adding to the accounts receivable at Harris and Company as well.
The most recent numbers for the Surrey District the largest in the province come from 2007-08, which saw the District pay out $509,804, up from the year before when their payment was $317,000.
Vancouver the second largest district paid out $368,630 and Coquitlam the number three district was billed for $119,608. The updated numbers for the Vancouver area boards will be released in December.
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Prince Rupert while small in size, is still apparently a pretty reliable client, Steffenhagen's numbers from last year show that School District 52 paid out 123,269 dollars in legal fees to Harris and Company.
Putting it much higher on the Harris and Company payment list than such School Districts as Peace River South ($46,798), Kootenay Lake ($36,661), Southeast Kootenay ($71,555), Delta ($63,887), Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows ($63,887) Richmond ($39,732), West Van ( $49,006) and North Vancouver at ($44,877, North Van however did spend some 78,000 dollars with other law firms as well).
No details on the substance of the legal fees is provided in the reports, but for the most part it is understood that they relate to services provided regarding union grievances, lawsuits and/or court cases.
Prince Rupert's placement in the higher levels of the billing cycle could give residents cause for thought on why we would be such a frequent user of legal services and what circumstances locally might require our use of Harris and Company to the same, or higher level as some of the much larger school districts.
Prince Rupert while small in size, is still apparently a pretty reliable client, Steffenhagen's numbers from last year show that School District 52 paid out 123,269 dollars in legal fees to Harris and Company.
Putting it much higher on the Harris and Company payment list than such School Districts as Peace River South ($46,798), Kootenay Lake ($36,661), Southeast Kootenay ($71,555), Delta ($63,887), Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows ($63,887) Richmond ($39,732), West Van ( $49,006) and North Vancouver at ($44,877, North Van however did spend some 78,000 dollars with other law firms as well).
No details on the substance of the legal fees is provided in the reports, but for the most part it is understood that they relate to services provided regarding union grievances, lawsuits and/or court cases.
Prince Rupert's placement in the higher levels of the billing cycle could give residents cause for thought on why we would be such a frequent user of legal services and what circumstances locally might require our use of Harris and Company to the same, or higher level as some of the much larger school districts.
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Perhaps eventually an outline from the School District might be released to explain the costs involved and where they went, so as to help provide some background on the expenditures.
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For now however, we do suspect that when the phone rings at Harris and Company and we offer up our name, we get a return call fairly quickly.
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