The Wisconsin Legislature has spent $26.2 million in taxpayer money on legal fees to private law firms since 2017, a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel analysis published on July 20, 2025 found.
Under a Democratic governor and state attorney general, Republican legislative leaders have sought outside counsel to represent the Legislature in a wide range of high-profile legal battles including redistricting, laws passed during the 2018 lame-duck session and Michael Gableman’s failed investigation into the 2020 election.
The vast majority of the spending — just over $25 million — came after Gov. Tony Evers and Attorney General Josh Kaul won the November 2018 election, defeating former Gov. Scott Walker and Attorney General Brad Schimel.
The sharp increase in spending also followed a law passed by Republican legislators in the December 2018 lame- duck session that authorized the Assembly speaker and Senate majority leader to hire private lawyers with taxpayer money.
The Legislature can now intervene in any lawsuit its leaders say affects their chamber’s interests.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said Republican lawmakers have felt the need to turn to outside counsel because they don’t trust that Kaul, a Democrat, will defend GOP-backed laws passed before Evers took office.
The highest-paid firm is Troutman Pepper Locke, formerly Troutman Pepper and Troutman Sanders. The large Atlanta-based law firm has raked in $10.6 million since 2017 representing the Legislature in cases over a variety of issues, including the lame-duck session and Act 10.
Troutman Pepper Locke partner Misha Tseytlin, an attorney with ties to the Federalist Society, served as Wisconsin’s solicitor general from 2015-18 under Schimel. Tseytlin also helped develop the legal strategy conservative groups would later use to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022.
Tseytlin and his associates billed the Legislature $550 per hour in 2023, according to contracts obtained through an open records request. A Troutman Pepper Locke spokesperson said that amount is a reduced rate.
Other notable law firms include Eimer Stahl, a Chicago-based boutique firm that made $3.5 million; the Virginia-based Consovoy McCarthy, which earned $2.37 million; and Madison firm Bell Giftos St. John, which brought in $1.76 million.
Consovoy McCarthy is a powerhouse conservative law firm that represented the state Legislature in redistricting and Act 10 litigation. The firm has argued multiple times before the U.S. Supreme Court, scoring victories for conservatives in a landmark affirmative action ruling and representing President Donald Trump in his efforts to prevent the release of his tax returns to outside organizations.
Eimer Stahl and Bell Giftos St. John also have former Republican state DOJ officials at their firms.
Even at a discounted rate, firms working for the Legislature typically bill at a much higher rate than those hired by Evers. Records show Pines Bach typically represents Evers at a reduced rate of $275 per hour.
Evers has paid outside counsel an average of $278 per hour since taking office, with rates ranging from $275 to $450 per hour, contracts show.
Some of the work for the governor’s office has been pro bono. States United Democracy Center, a national nonprofit election law organization, represented Evers for free in redistricting matters during the 2020 cycle.
The lawsuits have provided an opportunity for lawyers to take cases to the U.S. Supreme Court and turn a decision arising from Wisconsin into national precedent, said Robert Yablon, a UW Law School professor and co-director of the State Democracy Research Initiative.
“These fights are becoming nationalized,” Yablon said. “The law firms are thinking about how to use Wisconsin controversies to develop law nationally.”
