If there is one thing Hall County has learned, it's that lawyers don't come cheap.

The county's interim law firm, Holland & Knight, charged the county as much as $395 an hour for legal advice - more than twice the fee charged by former attorney Bill Blalock, according to documents reviewed by The Times.

Over the past two fiscal years, Hall County has spent up to $400,000 a year on legal expenses. So far in fiscal year 2011, which started July 1, the county has spent $349,173.

For its work in January, Holland & Knight billed the county $34,680.10, racking up the original $10,000 the commissioners approved for their initial services in just a few days.

Blalock charged $150 per hour. During fiscal year 2010, which began July 1, 2009, and ended June 30, Blalock's firm of Stewart, Melvin & Frost charged the county $31,035 to $58,889 per month.

On Jan. 6, the Board of Commissioners voted to not to renew the contracts of Blalock and three other top officials, Administrator Charley Nix, Assistant Administrator Phil Sutton and Finance Director Michaela Thompson.

At the same meeting, Holland & Knight was selected to serve the county's legal needs until a permanent county attorney is selected.

But even before the attorney change was officially approved, the firm billed the county for $4,542 for what the invoice listed as "preparation" and "employment matters." Two of the firm's attorneys attended the Jan. 6 meeting.

Commissioner Ashley Bell and newcomers Craig Lutz and Scott Gibbs voted in favor of the attorney change.

The county has the position out for bid and will end the request for proposals Tuesday.

Bell stands behind the Atlanta firm's cost.

"Holland & Knight, in particular, was a firm that was well known for dealing with water litigation," Bell said. "I felt that general county attorney work you could find just about anywhere. But I wanted to make sure it was a firm that had experience dealing with complex water litigation - which I think, not knowing how long they would be interim, I wanted to make sure that we were prepared to deal with any looming litigation hanging out there from our efforts of pushing forth the Glades Farm Reservoir."

Holland & Knight said the majority of work to be done for the county would be done by the firm's associates, who charge a lower rate of $285 per hour. Partners charge $395 per hour.

"They're definitely a very large firm and the attorney we have, O.V. Brantley, is definitely well-qualified. This situation is only interim," Bell said. "That's why we're having a process right now to put this out for a proposal to make sure we're getting a quality attorney but also at a good price."

Commissioner Billy Powell disagreed with the commission's vote to use Holland & Knight in the interim.

"It makes no sense to use a downtown Atlanta law firm to handle Hall County's legal business for six months when Stewart, Melvin & Frost could have continued until a new firm was selected," Powell said. "I'd like to see it get settled as quickly as possible so we minimize the out-of-town legal fees that we are having to pay."

Commissioners recently approved a request from Sheriff Steve Cronic to continue using Blalock for his department's legal needs until a new county attorney is hired.

Jim Grubiak, general counsel for the Association County Commissioners of Georgia, said almost every county in the state has a unique way of handling its legal needs.

"We have about 12 to 15 counties that have full-time staff, county attorneys that are their direct employees," Grubiak said. "It's more common that the attorney is outside counsel, a law firm that's hired to represent the county."

When it comes to outside counsel, some counties pay attorneys a flat fee. Others pay hourly, and many have several attorneys to handle different areas of county business.

"There's no one way to do it. It varies greatly from county to county across the state," Grubiak said.

Over the last three fiscal years, Hall County has brought in several outside attorneys with special areas of expertise.

Local firm Fox, Chandler, Homans, Hicks & McKinnon, which performs work for the Tax Assessors Board, charges $150 per hour. Freeman, Mathis & Gary, an Atlanta firm that specializes in insurance, costs $210 per hour.

When it comes to total legal costs, Grubiak said there's no standard, either.

"Even if you were to ask 20 counties what they paid last year, there would be no apples and apples to compare," Grubiak said. "One year it could be X amount and the next year it could be half that or twice that. A year when you have a personnel lawsuit or something like that becomes extended, it can be much more expensive than a year when things go well."

Legal costs can be unpredictable, but they are a necessary function of county government.

"Mostly everything a county commission does is driven by law. Any time you're dealing with making decisions that are based on law, you've got the potential for someone to challenge it," Grubiak said. "The attorneys are there to help guide the commission through the legal thicket, so to speak."

Plus, new laws are introduced every year by the General Assembly that require legal analysis to determine their effect on local governments.

"Every year there are several hundred bills introduced that could potentially affect counties. It's a constantly changing state of affairs," Grubiak said.

Hall commissioners are hoping to find a local firm that will be able to serve all of its legal needs. The county issued a request for proposal Feb. 7. Applicants will be reviewed later this week.

Bell said he is looking for a firm that can provide both high ethics and experience. He said he voted to find a new county attorney because he felt Stewart, Melvin & Frost had a conflict of interest; at one time, attorney Tread Syfan was in business with Powell and Chairman Tom Oliver.

"It's not always the best idea to get the cheapest attorney. You want to balance cost with experience and that's what I think we're going to look at going forward," Bell said.

"I'd like to have a county firm that has no conflict and can represent every commissioner equally. In my mind, I just want to start from scratch and have everybody clear about what the relationships are and let every commissioner feel they have equal representation from the county attorney."

Powell said he hopes to find a firm that will be able to handle the county's needs at a reasonable cost.

"I'm looking for a firm with a good track record, a good reputation, conveniently located to the county offices and a firm that is diverse enough to handle the different areas of business that the county needs," Powell said.