Last Updated 2 weeks by Amnon J. Jobi | Amnon Front Page
INDIANAPOLIS (MIRROR INDY) — In response to the City-County Council’s ongoing investigation, Mayor Joe Hogsett’s administration has signed a $40,000 contract to bring in local attorneys as legal help.
One of their faces is familiar.
Matt Giffin, an attorney who left the administration to take a job with Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath in January 2024, previously served as the city’s top attorney under Hogsett. He started working for the city in 2019, including as corporation counsel from March 2023 to December 2023.
His time as the city’s top attorney overlapped with the Hogsett administration’s internal investigation into former city staffer Caroline Ellert’s harassment allegations against Thomas Cook, Hogsett’s former chief of staff who also ran the Democratic mayor’s campaigns.
Now the Hogsett administration has hired Giffin as one of two Faegre attorneys to provide “legal advice to the city regarding its cooperation with and response to the City-County Council investigation,” according to the contract, “including representation of the city or city employees in negotiations or litigation relating to such investigation.”
The decision to bring back a former member of Hogsett’s cabinet is concerning to Councilor Brian Mowery, a southside Republican who serves on the council investigative committee.
Mowery noted that the City-County Council purposely sought to avoid potential conflicts in its investigation by hiring an out-of-state law firm with no apparent business, political or financial ties to the city. The council’s choice, Fisher Phillips, is based in Atlanta.
“The whole reason we went out of town was to make sure we didn’t have a law firm that was connected to the city or administration in any way,” Mowery said. “I feel like they went behind the council’s back to hire Faegre. It kind of diminishes the efficacy of this investigation.”
In an emailed statement to Mirror Indy, a Hogsett spokesperson said the administration sought outside counsel “to avoid any potential conflicts of interest.”
“The city is in full alignment with the Investigative Committee’s desire to conduct a thorough and independent investigation of the facts,” the Hogsett spokesperson’s statement said, in part. “Matt Giffin was hired in a secondary role on this contract because of his experience as a former city attorney, giving him the ability to quickly navigate what types of city documents exist and help to more efficiently find and disclose these documents to Fisher Phillips.”
Giffin is being paid $650 per hour, according to the city’s contract. The other attorney, Daniel Pulliam, is the lead on the contract, according to the city spokesperson. Pulliam is a Faegre partner and is being paid $670 per hour.
Giffin is the only attorney who signed the contract on behalf of Faegre on Dec. 6, 2024.
Reached by phone, Giffin declined Mirror Indy’s request for a comment. Pulliam also declined to comment, but referred Mirror Indy to the city’s statement.
It’s unclear the extent of Giffin’s involvement in the Hogsett administration’s 2023 internal investigation into allegations against Cook. The Hogsett spokesperson did not answer a Mirror Indy question asking if Giffin was made aware of the allegations against Cook in 2023. In the statement, the spokesperson said the Hogsett administration hired an outside law firm to conduct that investigation.
Cook was the subject of IndyStar and Mirror Indy articles that led to the City-County Council’s decision to form an investigative committee. Cook, who has previously not responded to several requests by Mirror Indy for interviews, has not been charged with a crime.
Emma Davidson Tribbs is director of the nonprofit National Women’s Defense League, which was founded in 2022 in the aftermath of the #MeToo movement. She declined to directly comment on the Hogsett administration’s actions to bring back a former attorney, but noted that harassment investigations should be free from political and partisan self-interest to preserve their integrity.
“We believe it is crucial that sexual harassment investigations, especially in government sectors, are conducted with the utmost impartiality,” Davidson told Mirror Indy. “To ensure fairness, we believe that means minimizing any bias and removing political relationships that could influence the outcome of the investigation.”
Mirror Indy was provided a copy of the contract:
Why did the city retain outside counsel?
The administration retained Faegre to assist in providing Fisher Phillips with relevant documents to the City-County Council investigation.
More than 850 documents have been turned over so far, according to the Hogsett spokesperson’s statement.
The investigative committee learned about the city’s decision to retain Faegre at its Jan. 29 meeting, according to Councilor Crista Carlino, a westside Democrat who chairs the committee.
At that meeting, city attorney Brandon Beeler said the city brought in Faegre for their “subject matter expertise” and to be “on call” to respond to Fisher Phillips during the discovery process.
“A firm of Faegre’s size has technological things we just don’t have so we can get through information much quicker,” Beeler told the committee. “It’s the same technology Fisher Phillips has. Here at the city, we just don’t have that kind of technology.”
Giffin isn’t the only Faegre attorney with experience working for Hogsett. Tim Moriarty, who previously served as special counsel to the mayor, is a partner at the firm.
Hogsett campaign treasurer Tenley Drescher-Rhoades — who is one of the people previously contacted by former campaign staffer Lauren Roberts about her allegations against Cook — also works at the firm.
What’s the status of the investigation?
Fisher Phillips is reviewing more than 850 pages of documents from the Hogsett administration as part of its investigation, attorneys told the committee at its Feb. 26 meeting.
Those documents include everything from text messages and emails to investigation reports and information from employee personnel files.
Lawyers from the firm have interviewed “relevant witnesses,” including city employees who work in legal and human resources roles. The firm plans to interview Hogsett before concluding its investigation, according to the interim report.
Mirror Indy provided a copy of the interim report:
In its report, the firm says it is also monitoring the media coverage, social media profiles and public statements of the “known complainants,” as well as “related media releases by the city’s administration.”
The report did not specify the names of the complainants. Ellert and Roberts declined Mirror Indy’s requests for comment for this article.
Fisher Phillips is expected to produce a final report by June 1.
Peter Blanchard covers local government. Reach him at 317-605-4836 or peter.blanchard@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on X @peterlblanchard.