$672,800

Noting that it’s often better and less expensive to settle than wage legal battles, 19th century novelist Robert Louis Stevenson opined that “compromise is the best and cheapest lawyer.”

Not all legal matters, however, lend themselves to a quick, amicable resolution. That’s where law firms enter the picture. In the case of local government entities, taxpayers foot the resulting bill.

During their last three annual budget periods, the Borough Council and Board of Education have collectively expended more than $670,000 in legal fees.

Inside – Middlesex checked the annual pay-to-play reports filed with the state by Savo, Schalk, Corsini, Warner, Gillespie, O’Grodnick & Fisher, the Somerville firm that serves as the mayor and Borough Council’s legal counsel. The firm also serves as tax appeal attorney and redevelopment counsel.

Open Public Records Act (OPRA) requests were filed to obtain the totals paid to The Busch Law Group of Metuchen and Bernardsville-based Flanagan, Barone & O’Brien, two legal firms that have represented the Board of Education during the past three academic years.

Busch Law handles most school district legal matters and attends public meetings. Flanagan, Barone represented the board in U.S. District Court in recent years and has handled special education matters.

From 2022 through 2024, Savo, Schalk was paid $418,704 for Middlesex Borough work, according to earnings reports filed with the state’s Election Law Enforcement Commission.

Busch Law has been paid $221,987 during the past three academic years, starting with 2022-23, according to the school district’s OPRA response. There was still one month remaining in the current school year when the figures were obtained in late May.

During the same three budget years, Flanagan, Barone & O’Brien has been paid $32,109 by the Middlesex Board of Education.

Combined, the three firms earned $672,800. The total actually expended exceeds that amount. That total does not include amounts paid to specialty attorneys, such as the firms who serve the Joint Land Use Board, handle labor matters or bond sales for the municipality. Inside – Middlesex did not obtain records related to those legal payouts.

The amounts expended each year have been:

Savo, Schalk

2022 – $156,725

2023 – $106,135

2024 – $155,844

Busch Law

2022-23 – $62,821

2023-24 – $86,264

2024-25 – $72,902  (thru May 20)

Flanagan, Barone

2022-23 – $14,821

2023-24 – $14,753

2024-25 –  $2,535 (thru May 20)

Legal spending continues. For the first three months of 2025, Savo, Schalk was paid $43,072, according to the council’s recent bill lists. When that amount is included, legal spending has topped $710,000 in recent years.

In at least one case – the potential hiring of Class 3 special police officers – local taxpayers are apparently paying the attorneys of both the council and school board to negotiate with each other. A Memorandum of Understanding between the two sides is being finalized.

Recent years’ legal bills have included work on matters such as the prospective purchase of the former Presbyterian Church parcel, and the municipality’s response to tax appeals filed by commercial property owners in the wake of the 2022-23 revaluation. At one point, there were more than 50 active tax appeal cases pending against the municipality in State Tax Court.

In some cases, bills can be run up without warning, as the municipality or school district becomes the defendant in a lawsuit, or pursues a person or business for violating borough codes.

Savo, Schalk was paid more than $30,000 combined for two months of legal work in February and March 2025. About $8,100 of that total was run up by a long-running matter involving a Dorn Avenue property and alleged zoning violations. That case began in early 2024.

Asked about the $8,100 expense at the council’s Tuesday, May 27 meeting, Mayor Jack Mikolajczyk acknowledged it might not be recouped, even if the property owner in question eventually loses in court.

“I guess it depends, at the end of the day, if fines are issued,” the mayor said. “Are you really going to make the whole thing up? Probably not, I would think, unless it’s an ongoing type of fine.”

“In my opinion, it’s a little bit of everything,” Mikolajczyk continued, regarding the factors that run up legal expenses. “I think it’s a little bit with the courts, and how fast some of these cases are processed.”

The borough is looking to add municipal court dates, in part to expedite the prosecution of zoning violations, Mikolajczyk said. It might be “inconvenient” to pursue certain cases, the mayor said. But one ruling can lay the groundwork for others. 

“Maybe the second guy’s going to think twice before he tries the same thing,” Mikolajczyk said.

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