Overcharging and padding legal bills is not enough for
the “Giacobbe” firm. Matthew Giacobbe
also arranges for school districts to award NONCOMPETITIVE contracts to his
former law partner Yaacov Brisman to drive up district legal costs even more.
At the beginning of the school year, Matthew Giacobbe
expressed great urgency to hire his former law partner to investigate and
interview a Lodi teacher.
Giacobbe described Yaccov Brisman as an outside firm that would operate
independent of the Giacobbe firm. Matthew
Giacobbe never disclosed his past business relationship with Brisman. How
could Brisman be objective and work independent of Giacobbe when 1) Giacobbe arranged and advocated for Brisman’s contract, and 2) Brisman was a “founding partner” in the
Giacobbe firm?
When the high school teacher resigned, Giacobbe
shifted his plan. His new plan was to
have the board award a NONCOMPETITIVE contract to Brisman to go after this blog one week before the Election.
Once again, the “Giacobbe” attorneys expressed great urgency to award
the contract immediately and bypass any fair procurement process.
The “Giacobbe” attorneys recommended that board members
violate an OFAC corrective action plan that was listed on our district website
for procuring legal contracts. Matthew
Giacobbe wanted a NONCOMPETIVE public contract for his former law partner to interfere
in our Election because I was calling out problems with his contract and billing.
Matthew
Giacobbe never disclosed his conflicts of interest in his pursuit of attaining
a NONCOMPETIVE contract for a “founding member” of his firm.
When five board members voted down the contract for Brisman
and recommended hiring a real outside firm that had already gone through a
proper procurement process, the Giacobbe attorneys no longer found an outside
firm necessary. There no longer was any
urgency for an outside firm. They didn’t
want a competitor of theirs hired. They
didn’t want an objective firm. They didn’t
want an outside firm. They wanted a “founding
member” of Matthew Giacobbe’s firm who also happened to work with Matthew
Giacobbe and Joseph Ferriero at Scarinci Hollenbeck.
Matthew
Giacobbe’s actions with Yaacov Brisman’s contract was totally UNETHICAL.
