BU reform group wants legal fee answers; sets scandal cost at $220M

A reform group formed in the wake of Baylor’s sexual assault scandal is demanding to know how much the university is paying a Texas defense attorney and another law firm the school has hired to continue the work of implementing recommendations from the Pepper Hamilton firm, which investigated the university’s handling of sexual assault reports.

The university responded that it’s defending itself “appropriately in litigation” and that it’s on a sound financial footing.

Bears for Leadership Reform said in a press release Thursday it wants to know how much the school is paying the Philadelphia law firm Cozen O’Connor and Houston defense attorney Rusty Hardin.

“By most estimates, the events of the last year will cost Baylor University at least $223 million – not to mention the immeasurable damage to our school’s reputation and the value of our degrees,” Bears for Leadership Reform President John Eddie Williams.

““With $223 million, Baylor could provide 1,408 four-year, full-tuition scholarships and over three years of rent-free housing to all undergraduate students,” Williams said.

Bears for Leadership Reform says that Hardin frequently charges hourly fees in excess of $1,100, adding that In November 2013, he charged more than $1,300 to produce a single email for the University of Texas System and a legislative committee investigating former UT Regent Wallace Hall.

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