Texas's Teacher Retirement System has hired a new outside law firm to counsel them on their pension system, but state lawmakers are wary of the firm's exorbitant costs and anticipate that it will have too many conflicts of interest to be of any use.

The Austin American-Statesman reports that the new firm, Cooley Godward Kronish LLP, will be raking in fees of $750 per hour-- $250 more than the Attorney General's office recommends for such services. But that didn't stop the office from approving the contract.

What's more, in approving the expenditure, the AG's office asked the system to consider "independent reviews" of its new counsel's performance. I bet they'll get right on that. Right after they finish hiring two more firms to provide outside investment counsel.

According to the Statesman article, though, even with the AG's approval, the firm has failed to convince key lawmakers that it's fit for the job of managing the more than $100 billion fund.

At an Aug. 27 legislative hearing, Duncan and fellow Sens. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, chairman of the Finance Committee, and Kip Averitt, R-Waco, expressed skepticism about Cooley's ability to avoid conflicts of interest. ..."We had counsel that was uniquely qualified to do the job, and apparently there were no conflicts of interest, no issues that would make you say, this firm is no longer meeting our needs, or that they've made a mistake," Duncan said. "Now we're going to a firm with a higher hourly rate, and we have to hire other firms at higher hourly rates in case there are conflicts. Why are we changing to something that is in my view chaotic?"

What a great question! Beats me.

(Photo: Beseiged teacher. Photo by flickr user tajai, used via the Creative Commons license.)