EDGEWATER, Fla. – A heated Edgewater City Council meeting Monday put a spotlight on the city’s relationship with the Sabatini Law Firm, after Councilwoman Debbie Dolbow raised concerns about the firm’s ties to Mayor Diezel Depew and recent criticism of the firm’s use of artificial intelligence in legal filings.
Dolbow questioned the optics of the city continuing to pay the Sabatini Law Firm, led by Anthony Sabatini — a Lake County commissioner — while Sabatini also represents Depew in a personal legal matter.
“Someone got their best bud a job,” Dolbow said during the meeting, adding that the arrangement “creates a perception of bias.”
The Sabatini Law Firm has served as the city’s law firm for about six months, according to discussion at the meeting.
The mayor said, “This is political optics.”
Depew pushed back, saying the criticism is more about politics than a conflict.
He also said Sabatini’s work for him personally is separate from city business.
“There’s nothing wrong with what he’s representing me on,” Depew said. “A personal case is not the issue and it has nothing to do with the city of Edgewater.”
Dolbow also asked whether the law firm previously donated to local campaigns, pointing to contributions she said were made to two council members.
“Did the Sabatini Law Firm ever donate to your campaign in the past?” Dolbow asked. “And that goes for two council members… Charlie got $1,000 and Diezel got $1,000.”
Dolbow brought up concerns about the firm’s use of AI, saying residents have questioned whether it could cause problems for the city.
The discussion comes after a federal appeals court judge earlier this month criticized Sabatini for filing multiple court briefings that were described as “riddled with nonexistent ‘hallucinated’ cases,” even after being warned, according to remarks made during the meeting.
At one point, the debate grew sharper as Dolbow rejected the idea that the issue was a simple mistake.
“Everyone makes a mistake,” Depew said.
“That’s not a mistake,” Dolbow responded. “That’s purposely taking the easy road and putting the clients in jeopardy and making the courts search for these things and they’re not there.”
Sabatini was not at the meeting, but a member of his team was in attendance.
That representative argued the AI-related criticism had been exaggerated by an online publication and suggested the outlet had a personal grievance with Sabatini.
“We all know news articles can sometimes skew things especially if they’re pay to play. Channel 6 is not. They don’t get paid to play. They come out here and they do an investigative job. They don’t get paid to write stories like Florida Politics.”
The Mayor says looking ahead, the city is continuing to move forward with The Sabatini Law Firm and no further discussion is planned.