Gov. Scott Walker has agreed to pay a private law firm up to $500,000 for legal services regarding his controversial budget repair bill curbing public employees’ collective bargaining rights, a spokesman for the governor confirmed.

Walker signed a special counsel contract with the Madison office of Michael Best & Friedrich on Feb. 7, four days before unveiling the bill, public records show. The contract authorized payment at the unusually high rate of up to $300 an hour, to a total of $100,000.

Additional tasks, including two recent federal lawsuits challenging the bill, have since been assigned under the contract. Cullen Werwie, spokesman for the Republican governor, said the contract was amended a few days ago and “the maximum was adjusted to $500,000.”

Signing the contract for Michael Best & Friedrich was attorney Raymond Taffora, a month after he left his job with the state attorney general’s office, which usually represents the state on legal challenges.

Werwie said the firm was hired “at the request of the attorney general’s office” to review the budget-repair bill and provide other legal services the office could not.

Correspondence shows the governor on Feb. 4 requested legal assistance from the attorney general’s office in anticipation of litigation on the bill. The office declined, citing a lack of sufficient non-union staff with the necessary expertise. It recommended that the governor appoint special counsel.

On two later occasions, records show, the attorney general’s office itself asked for special counsel to assist in litigation in state court related to the bill. Assistant Attorney General Kevin Potter said he believes these duties were performed by Michael Best & Friedrich under the existing contract.

State law allows the governor to appoint special counsel to assist the attorney general’s office or act in its stead in cases in which the office has a conflict or disagreement. It requires these contracts to be filed with the secretary of state, but does not set a timeline. The governor’s contract with Michael Best & Friedrich was received June 23, more than four months after it was signed.

Susan Crawford, who as chief legal counsel to former Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle in 2009 and 2010 was involved in decisions to hire outside attorneys, is perplexed by the hiring.

“It’s hard to understand why they needed to bring in outside attorneys at $300 an hour,” she said, noting that Department of Justice attorneys ultimately did represent the state on litigation stemming from the budget repair bill. Crawford now works for the Madison law firm of Cullen Weston Pines & Bach, which did some outside legal work under Doyle.

Taffora was a deputy attorney general under Republican J.B. Van Hollen for four years, earning about $65 an hour. He previously worked at Michael Best & Friedrich and was chief legal counsel for Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson. Taffora did not return phone messages.

The governor’s office has not yet provided invoices in response to a July 11 public records request, but Nate Ristow, the governor’s assistant legal counsel, put the total billed to date at $96,215.