Environmental Law

USDOJ Travel Policies

By Walter James

I was reading with some mild interest an article in the on-line version of the National Law Journal about the USDOJ report reviewing the travel expenses of the various US attorneys.  You can see the article, with a link to the actual report, here: http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2010/11/doj-report-questions-us-attorney-travel-costs.html.  What I found interesting is that the report takes several US attorneys to task for not traveling at the Government rate and not adequately documenting the reason for the divergence. 

A little vignette ? when we were trying the US v. Odfjell case in Houston in 1988, I asked one of the prosecutors from DC where they were staying.  He gave me the name of a national brand hotel and then told me that they were really constrained by the per diem.  I remember thinking to myself that the per diem would not even be close to being sufficient for my clients. 

While I understand that the Government secures preferred rates with hotels and airlines, most of the hotels are ones that those of us in private practice would probably not stay in.  Anyone who does any amount of business travel knows that it is not glamorous and is tedious at best.  A clean hotel, a great bed and a good night?s sleep are paramount (so is a good meal on occasion). 

So, maybe it is time that the USDOJ re-examine its policies regarding travel expenses.

More later.

As always, feel free to contact me via e-mail at walter.james@jamespllc.com.

WDJiii

Full post as published by Environmental Crimes Blog on November 09, 2010 (boomark / email).