Reno lawyer and former gubernatorial candidate Joey Gilbert is resigning as the Douglas County School District’s legal counsel, his team announced at a Tuesday school board meeting, ending more than a year of work in the position marked by debate over his experience and questions about whether he was overcharging.
His resignation is effective Jan. 9, according to his resignation letter.
Staff at his law office said Gilbert wasn’t immediately available for a request for comment, but he told a Reno outlet that his job at the district was done.
The board hired Gilbert, who lost the 2022 GOP primary for governor and unsuccessfully argued that the election was marred with fraud, in July 2023 on a 4-2 vote despite his law firm’s lack of experience in education law. His departure comes after at least one ally on the divided board lost a bid for re-election, and some of Gilbert’s critics won seats.
In his letter, Gilbert said during his 16 months on the job, his law firm was successful in overhauling board bylaws, including policies on the superintendent’s authority and helping change the district’s leadership.
“With these initiatives now successfully completed, it is the right time for me to step aside,” Gilbert wrote.
During an April meeting, Gilbert stated he was hired to remove the district’s former Superintendent Keith Lewis, who was concerned about Gilbert’s legal fees, which were significantly higher than the district’s previous legal counsel, and had clashed with trustees in the majority over policy changes. Lewis resigned in November 2023.
Gilbert also cited facing resistance from former school board members and community groups who were supportive of Lewis.
Gilbert’s firm charges a monthly retainer of $7,500, $2,500 more than the district’s previous legal counsel charged, and other services are billed at $325 per hour. Last December, the board increased its annual budget for legal fees from $123,000 to $450,000. This school year, the board budgeted $400,000 for its legal fees.
Douglas County School Board President David Burns said in a Wednesday phone interview that he attributes the increase in the district’s budget for legal fees to lawsuits filed and records requests against him and Trustees Katherine Dickerson, Doug Englekirk and Susan Jansen, who joined him in voting to bring Gilbert on last year. Gilbert echoed that sentiment in his resignation letter.
“These actions resulted in a heightened workload and necessitated additional outside counsel, which in turn increased legal expenses — a consequence these groups fully understood would impact the district,” Gilbert wrote.
Trustees Yvonne Wagstaff and Linda Gilkerson, who’s term is ending in a couple of weeks, have recently been pushing for the board to consider terminating Gilbert as the district’s legal counsel.
During the Tuesday meeting, Wagstaff had suggested holding a special meeting next week to terminate Gilbert. Gilbert did not comment on the proposal but his associate, attorney Kendra Jepsen, said it wasn’t necessary because they would turn in their resignation letter after the meeting.
Gilbert’s resignation comes after Englekirk lost his bid for re-election. The three incoming trustees who will take office in January, including Englekirk’s successor, Erinn Miller, have expressed concerns about Gilbert’s legal fees.
“I felt it was very important that we had the correct legal representation and someone who understood education and (human resource) law and that’s not his speciality,” Miller said in a Wednesday phone interview.
