This team’s pay hangs on a complex
compensation structure and how the case goes.
Under its contract, Lanier’s firm will be paid
based on an hourly billing equation or get a
slice of any settlement Google pays, depending
on which is less. The size of its settlement
cut depends on whether Texas’ Republican-
controlled Legislature approves $43 million to
pay the firm’s monthly bills up front. If Google
doesn’t end up paying, Texas will try to recoup
its costs in court.
The contract with the second firm, Keller
Lenkner, lays out a similar pay plan, without the
millions for monthly bills.
It’s unclear where the request for $43 million
stands, and Paxton’s office did not answer
questions about it.
Lanier said the case won’t pay a lot compared
with his other work. “I am doing it out of
principal as much as anything,” he said.
Texas has the largest Republican-controlled
state attorney general’s office in the country.
With roughly 750 lawyers and 4,000 total
employees, it’s rare for the state to hire
outside counsel.
For instance, while Lanier was representing
two Ohio counties in their landmark opioid
lawsuit, Texas used state employees for its
similarcaseagainstpharmaceuticalcompany
Johnson & Johnson.
Date, the attorney general’s spokeswoman,
said Paxton most recently hired outside
lawyers last month, for his failed suit seeking
to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the
presidential election.