Bond attorneys who do business with issuers of debt backed by New York State could be chosen for shorter terms if draft recommendations of a task force on minority and women-owned business enterprises are adopted.
Last week the so-called MWBE task force discussed a series of proposals intended to increase participation of minority and women-owned law firms and to increase diversity in majority law firms seeking to do business with the state and public authorities.
“When state agencies and authorities broaden and diversify the range of law firms they contract with for their legal needs, they help foster and ensure greater competition, spark innovation and generate better service, all of which benefit the people of New York,” Paul T. Williams Jr., chairman of the task force and executive director of the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York, said in a news release.
The draft recommendations under consideration include: shortening the current request for proposals cycle for legal services from the current five years to a shorter period; evaluating in-house diversity policies of law firms seeking state work; encouraging state agencies and authorities to actively seek out MWBE firms for legal services; encouraging law firms to partner with each others when responding to an RFP; revising assessment criteria for law firms to eliminate barriers to entry; and engaging law firms from various regions of the state.
The task force could adopt those and other recommendations at a meeting next month. Adoption of the recommendations would be subject to board approval by individual issuers.
Gov. David Paterson established the task force in June to first look at ways to increase MWBE firm participation as underwriters for issuers of state-backed debt. Those recommendations were finalized in December.
