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Digital Journalist's Legal Guide
Wisconsin's open records law applies to city's legal bills
The city of Green Bay must release its legal bills to the public, a Wisconsin judge ruled Friday.
The Green Bay Press-Gazette asked Green Bay and 24 additional Brown County municipalities for legal invoices last May for a June 7 story about how Brown County had spent $2.4 million on outside-counsel legal fees in 2008. The city denied the paper's request and said the records were protected by attorney-client privilege, the Press-Gazette reported.
Because the newspaper succeeded in its open records suit, the state's open records law requires the city to pay the Press-Gazette’s legal fees. The city has two weeks to turn over the records.
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