The city of Bainbridge Island remains without an attorney, but now it has a temp service of sorts to help it get by until a new lawyer takes on the job.

The council approved contracting legal work to the law firm of Ogden, Murphy, Wallace at its Jan. 23 meeting.

“I’ve had a relationship with the firm for a number of years now and have a lot of confidence in its staff,” said City Manager Doug Schulze.

Schulze presented the idea of hiring the Seattle firm at the city council’s meeting. The firm will cover the city’s legal needs until an in-house attorney is hired.

“We do have finalists identified for the staff position, but by the time we have interviews and get someone one board it could be two months,” Schulze told the council.

Schulze noted that former city attorney Will Patton has remained in contact with the city to help take care of any loose ends left in the wake of his resignation.

Schulze told the council late last week that the city had five finalists for the city attorney position, and the council would be given names and background summaries of the candidates once interviews had been set up for the selected finalists.