Hinsdale D86 Defends Secrecy Of Invoice Message

HINSDALE, IL – Hinsdale High School District 86 said Tuesday that it had the right to keep a document about legal invoices from its former law firm under wraps from the public.

A month after a state-imposed deadline, the district's lawyer responded to the attorney general's request for information about the withholding of the record. The inquiry was triggered by a complaint from Patch.

Patch had sought records related to the district's dispute with its former law firm, Chicago-based Robbins Schwartz. The district hasn't paid nearly $200,000 in bills from Robbins.

On Dec. 9, Robbins sent an email to the district titled, "Follow up: Invoices for Legal Services." The email's information was in an attachment, which District 86 decided against releasing in response to Patch's request.

Last September, Robbins terminated its relationship with the school system, saying the district was "unreasonably difficult" to serve.

Under the state Freedom of Information Act, the district can keep secret records that deal with attorney-client communications. But it must provide financial information, unless doing so impacts attorney-client privilege.

The district's new attorney said the secrecy of the communications is not "destroyed by the fact that Robbins Schwartz is the District's former attorney."

The lawyer, Leslie Kennedy of the Evergreen Park-based Odelson law firm, cited a state Supreme Court rule that details the confidentiality of such communications. The attorney general, she said, has no authority to add exceptions to the rule in question.

"If the Illinois Supreme Court had intended to create an exception to (the rule) for FOIA requests made to public bodies concerning the attorney-client communications, it would have done so," Kennedy said.

The district also cited the Freedom of Information Act's exception for preliminary notes.

"The privilege recognizes the necessity of candid communication among officials, where unguarded discussions are critical to effective policy development but would be inhibited under the threat of public disclosure," Kennedy said.

Such protection, she said, applies to external parties that act in an advisory capacity. Both Robbins and Odelson fall in this category, she said.

Parts of Kennedy's 10-page response were blacked out, likely material that she determined to be subject to the exceptions under the open records law.

Late last week, the attorney general's office informed the Odelson law firm that it was more than a month late with a response. Patch wrote about the issue in a story Tuesday.