SECTION 57.5. Outside Counsel Contract

(a) Except as authorized by law, an Outside Counsel Contract or any amendment to an Outside Counsel Contract must be approved by the Office of the Attorney General to be valid and enforceable.

(b) When entering into an Outside Counsel Contract, an Agency and Outside Counsel must use the Outside Counsel Contract template promulgated by the Office of the Attorney General. The contract template and instructions on submitting it are available on the Office of the Attorney General's official website or upon request from the General Counsel Division of the Office of the Attorney General.

(c) In the event of an inconsistency between this chapter and an executed Outside Counsel Contract, the contract shall prevail.

(d) Once an Agency selects an Outside Counsel, the Agency shall submit one copy of its proposed Outside Counsel Contract to the Office of the Attorney General for approval pursuant to this chapter. The Outside Counsel Contract must be signed by an authorized representative of the Outside Counsel and the chief administrator of the Agency, or authorized designee.

(e) Agency shall submit to the OAG the disclosure statement previously submitted by the selected Outside Counsel to the Agency. If the Agency is satisfied in its choice of Outside Counsel selected, the Agency shall submit to the OAG an affirmative statement that it is satisfied in its choice of selected Outside Counsel notwithstanding the information contained in the disclosure statement.

(f) Upon receipt of a proposed Outside Counsel Contract, the Office of the Attorney General will review the contract and either approve or reject it based upon the best interest of the State and compliance with state law.

(g) If the Office of the Attorney General approves a proposed Outside Counsel Contract, an authorized representative of the Office of the Attorney General will indicate that approval on the contract and return the signed copy to the Agency.

(h) If the Office of the Attorney General rejects a proposed Outside Counsel Contract, it will contact the submitting Agency to discuss the basis for the rejection and to explore whether revisions to the proposed contract could rectify the basis for the rejection. In the event the proposed contract is rejected and rectifying amendments are not acceptable or possible, the Office of the Attorney General will contact the submitting Agency to discuss alternatives to representation by the selected Outside Counsel.

Source Note: The provisions of this §57.5 adopted to be effective March 27, 2012, 37 TexReg 2065; amended to be effective June 5, 2014, 39 TexReg 4233