With hundreds of hours of work logged and $2.5 million already collected, the attorneys representing West Virginia University in the Rich Rodriguez buyout case just finished the case of their lives, they said.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- With hundreds of hours of work logged and $2.5 million already collected, the attorneys representing West Virginia University in the Rich Rodriguez buyout case just finished the case of their lives, they said.
"We were very proactive," said Tom Flaherty, the lead attorney in the case. "Rich Rod isn't the only one who knows how to run a hurry-up offense."
Veteran lawyers Flaherty and Jeff Wakefield, along with newcomer Jaclyn Bryk, headed the team from the Charleston firm Flaherty, Sensabaugh & Bonasso. The lawyers spent hundreds of hours on the case, poring over 12,000 to 13,000 pages of documents. And they did it quickly, they said.
In July, Rodriguez agreed to pay WVU the entire $4 million liquidated damages provision in his contract. The first payment arrived July 31.
The outcome wasn't surprising, Wakefield said.
"We thought it was a very simple contract case and that is should remain a simple contract case," he said.
All the lawyers said they were committed to getting the case done as soon as possible. Their bill, which was filed with WVU last week, totaled $332,859. About $294,000 was for professional services. The rest - about $38,000 - went to expenses.
Also, another law firm, Fitzsimmons Law Offices in Wheeling, donated $109,577 worth of legal work for the case.
Both Flaherty and Wakefield are graduates of West Virginia University.
"It's an honor and privilege to represent my alma mater," Wakefield said.
And for an added twist, Bryk is a graduate of the Michael E. Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University, the main rival of Michigan, Rodriquez's new team.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- With hundreds of hours of work logged and $2.5 million already collected, the attorneys representing West Virginia University in the Rich Rodriguez buyout case just finished the case of their lives, they said.
"We were very proactive," said Tom Flaherty, the lead attorney in the case. "Rich Rod isn't the only one who knows how to run a hurry-up offense."
Veteran lawyers Flaherty and Jeff Wakefield, along with newcomer Jaclyn Bryk, headed the team from the Charleston firm Flaherty, Sensabaugh & Bonasso. The lawyers spent hundreds of hours on the case, poring over 12,000 to 13,000 pages of documents. And they did it quickly, they said.
In July, Rodriguez agreed to pay WVU the entire $4 million liquidated damages provision in his contract. The first payment arrived July 31.
The outcome wasn't surprising, Wakefield said.
"We thought it was a very simple contract case and that is should remain a simple contract case," he said.
All the lawyers said they were committed to getting the case done as soon as possible. Their bill, which was filed with WVU last week, totaled $332,859. About $294,000 was for professional services. The rest - about $38,000 - went to expenses.
Also, another law firm, Fitzsimmons Law Offices in Wheeling, donated $109,577 worth of legal work for the case.
Both Flaherty and Wakefield are graduates of West Virginia University.
"It's an honor and privilege to represent my alma mater," Wakefield said.
And for an added twist, Bryk is a graduate of the Michael E. Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University, the main rival of Michigan, Rodriquez's new team.
"How would you like to work on our favorite case of your career?" Flaherty recalled asking Bryk. "And, how would you like to sue the coach of Michigan?"
Bryk, who is five years out of law school, was just honored to be part of the case.
"It was so enormous with so much public interest... To be invested with that sort of responsibility, it was a once-in-a-life opportunity," she said.
Wakefield said he was routinely stopped and asked questions about the case.
Flaherty wasn't surprised at the attention. The firm has done big cases before - representing people in the Sago and Aracoma mine disasters and the Emmons Apartments fire in Huntington.
"I knew it [the Rich Rod case] would get media attention when it was filed," he said. "I thought the media was fair."
Bryk agreed.
"Everybody was so well-informed," she said. "To see your words picked apart [was exciting.]
Since her work on the case, Bryk said she's noticed a difference around town.
"I think some lawyers look at me a little bit differently," she said, half-joking. "It's good clout to have."
Reach Sarah K. Winn at sarahkw...@wvgazette.com or 348-5156.
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Please explain why West Virginia taxpayers, the common, everyday man, are paying for WVU lawyers who are not handling WVU cases.
What about the suits that WVU lost? Gazette has not bestowed any recognition on the lawyers who handled those cases.
Any lawyer who handles a case against WVU in West Virginia and wins, certainly, stands above the rest. Thanks go to those classy lawyers who conducted themselves in a professional manner, did the right thing, and moved on to something else.
Politics and media in West Virginia have a good deal of room for improvement.