The outside attorney who advised Fort Bend County’s citizens advisory committee in the recent, highly contentious redistricting effort is challenging County Attorney Bridgette Smith-Lawson’s assertion that his firm’s engagement was illegal and therefore it should not be paid.
In an October 24 letter to the office Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Richard Morris of the Houston-based Rogers, Morris & Groves law firm weighs in on a pending legal opinion from Paxton on whether Smith-Lawson has sole authority over the county’s civil legal affairs, which she maintains and which the Republican majority on Commissioners Court disputes.
Meanwhile, n on in her own May 27 letter, Smith-Lawson weighed in the pending opinion request, which was submitted in April by Republican Texas Rep. Gary Gates, whose 28th District includes much of Fort Bend County…