Stephanie Lundquist-Arora | January 27, 2026
(EdNews Virginia) — Halfway through fiscal year 2026, Fairfax County Public Schools’ (FCPS) total expenditure on law firms to date is more than $8 million, likely making this fiscal year the most legally expensive year in FCPS history.
FCPS Legal Fees (FY 2020–Present)
| Fiscal Year | Legal Fees |
| FY 2020 | $6,401,077.94 |
| FY 2021 | $5,066,049.47 |
| FY 2022 | $6,312,989.17 |
| FY 2023 | $6,925,475.29 |
| FY 2024 | $11,619,332.03 |
| FY 2025 | $7,656,968.09 |
| FY 2026 (July–Dec 2025) | $8,047,874.69 |
| Total | $52,029,766.68 |
In December, FCPS issued King & Spalding its largest monthly payment to date, $1.76 million, bringing the new total for just the one firm to $4.44 million in fiscal year 2026. EdNews Virginia previously reported that in fiscal year 2026, through November 2025, Virginia’s largest public K-12 school district, already had paid King & Spalding $2.68 million.
FCPS Spending on Law Firms (Jul–Dec 2025)
| Law Firm | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Total |
| King & Spalding | $0 | $292,483 | $688,032 | $0 | $1,699,069 | $1,763,487 | $4,443,071 |
| Hunton Andrews Kurth | $2,687 | $98,759 | $342,975 | $0 | $502,253 | $0 | $946,674 |
| Willkie Farr & Gallagher | $0 | $56,899 | $324,433 | $0 | $428,399 | $0 | $809,731 |
| McGuireWoods | $0 | $395,596 | $17,689 | $83,524 | $29,060 | $0 | $525,869 |
| Blankingship & Keith | $61,973 | $113,518 | $73,310 | $97,001 | $172,233 | $0 | $518,035 |
| Gentry Locke Rakes & Moore | $0 | $307,066 | $114,418 | $0 | $41,576 | $0 | $463,061 |
| Michael E. Kinney | $22,354 | $41,648 | $31,211 | $29,233 | $17,553 | $15,783 | $157,780 |
| Isler Dare | $31,882 | $5,694 | $13,638 | $450 | $41,333 | $15,302 | $108,298 |
| Woods Rogers Vandeventer Black | $0 | $37,220 | $27,542 | $2,598 | $2,365 | $500 | $70,224 |
| Law Offices of Polly Chong | $0 | $0 | $2,049 | $2,057 | $0 | $0 | $4,105 |
| Sands Anderson | $0 | $0 | $0 | $370 | $509 | $148 | $1,027 |
| Total | $118,895 | $1,348,882 | $1,635,296 | $215,233 | $2,934,350 | $1,795,219 | $8,047,875 |
The FCPS contract with King & Spalding, obtained in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, specifies that the district is paying these lawyers up to $1,850 per hour for their services. King & Spalding, first hired to be a “neutral fact finder” in an external investigation about the alleged abortions scandal at Centreville High, is now defending FCPS in the whistleblower’s lawsuit.
In a move that many consider to be a conflict of interest, FCPS contracted King & Spalding for its defense in November 2025, before the firm’s “investigation” was completed in January 2026.
Monique Miles, one of the whistleblower’s attorneys, said, “King & Spalding can’t be both neutral fact finder and defense. There is an inherent conflict of interest in King & Spalding representing FCPS as counsel in both matters.”
In other words, the law firm that FCPS has paid millions of dollars, and continues to pay for its defense, has an incentive to conclude its investigation with the exact finding it published — that the whistleblower’s claims against the district are “likely untrue.”
It is unclear to the county’s fatigued taxpayers why a public K-12 school district has paid extremely high-priced lawyers exorbitant sums of money to polish its public image in an “investigation” that is far from objective.
Ms. Lundquist-Arora is a Fairfax parent and leads the county’s Independent Women’s Network chapter.