Hospital District Brings Legal Work in-House

Aug. 26–The North Broward Hospital District is yanking its coveted multimillion-dollar legal contract from prominent attorney and Republican fundraiser Bill Scherer.

Scherer has represented the network of four public hospitals and two dozen clinics for 17 years. On Wednesday, the first official meeting for three new board members, the board voted to hire an in-house attorney to handle its legal work.

“It makes good business sense to have in-house counsel,” said Maureen Jaeger, one of the new members. “You have to run a hospital district like a business . . . I think we’re going to save lots of money.”

Another member, Gul Cumber, said the vote came as a surprise. “We weren’t ready for something like that,” she said.

The other shake-up at the meeting was the election of Paul Sallarulo as board chairman, instead of Cora Braynon, who was vice chairwoman for the past year. Sallarulo served as chairman in 2002.

“I think she is a competent lady, and it was her time to get the chair,” Cumber said.

Scherer manages about $5 million in legal work for the hospital district per year. He farms out more than half to other law firms.

“I serve at the pleasure of the board, and it’s their prerogative,” Scherer said of the decision.

Jaeger is the South Florida office manager for the Florida attorney general. The other new board members are Richard Bernstein of Spectrum Health Solutions, and Rebecca Stoll of TurnKey Title.

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