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A city attorney is a position in city and municipal government in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
. The city attorney is the attorney representing the municipality. Unlike a
district attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a ...
or
public defender A public defender is a lawyer appointed to represent people who otherwise cannot reasonably afford to hire a lawyer to defend themselves in a trial. Several countries provide people with public defenders, including the UK, Hungary and Singapore, ...
, who usually handles criminal cases, a city attorney generally handles civil cases, advising the city on legal matters and representing it in court.Ferdinand P. Palla
The Role of a City Attorney
2 ''Santa Clara Lawyer'' 171 (1962).
City attorneys may advise city officials on a wide range of city business, ranging from
nuisance Nuisance (from archaic ''nocence'', through Fr. ''noisance'', ''nuisance'', from Lat. ''nocere'', "to hurt") is a common law tort. It means that which causes offence, annoyance, trouble or injury. A nuisance can be either public (also "common") ...
s to
tax law Tax law or revenue law is an area of legal study in which public or sanctioned authorities, such as federal, state and municipal governments (as in the case of the US) use a body of rules and procedures (laws) to assess and collect taxes in a ...
to
municipal annexation Municipal annexation is the legal process by which a city or other municipality acquires land as its jurisdictional territory (as opposed to simply owning the land the way individuals do). In the United States and Canada, it refers to the incorpor ...
s. A city attorney also advises the city's legislative body (such as a
city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural coun ...
) on the legality of proposed actions and assists in the drafting of
city ordinance A local ordinance is a law issued by a local government. such as a municipality, county, parish, prefecture, or the like. China In Hong Kong, all laws enacted by the territory's Legislative Council remain to be known as ''Ordinances'' () ...
s and resolutions. In some jurisdictions, city attorneys also function as
prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal tria ...
s, pursuing low-level criminal cases against persons charged with violating city ordinances, such as those relating to public drunkenness,
traffic violation A moving violation is any violation of the law committed by the driver of a vehicle while it is in motion. The term "motion" distinguishes it from other motor vehicle violations, such as paperwork violations (which include violations involving a ...
s,
zoning Zoning is a method of urban planning in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into areas called zones, each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for a si ...
and
building code A building code (also building control or building regulations) is a set of rules that specify the standards for constructed objects such as buildings and non-building structures. Buildings must conform to the code to obtain planning permissi ...
s, and municipal health regulations. In California, city attorneys have the power to seek gang injunctions in a civil proceeding in California state court. The client of the city attorney is the city, and the city attorney is typically responsible to both the
mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...
and the
city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural coun ...
. When the mayor and the city council disagree, or when city council members disagree among themselves, this can cause complexities, such as the application and waiver of the attorney–client privilege. In some areas, the position of city attorney is a part-time position based on a retainer agreement, and city attorneys engage in the outside private practice of law. In some cities, the city attorney is elected, while in other cities, the city attorney is appointed. For example, in California, most large cities (including
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...
,
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...
, and
San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...
) have elected city attorneys, while most of smaller cities appoint their city attorneys. In some cities, the city attorney position is very powerful. For example, the elected position of San Francisco City Attorney is important due to the large array of duties associated with the office. Unlike all other
California counties The U.S. state of California is divided into 58 counties. The state was first divided into 27 counties on February 18, 1850. These were further sub-divided to form sixteen additional counties by 1860. Another fourteen counties were formed throu ...
, San Francisco is a
consolidated city-county In United States local government, a consolidated city-county is formed when one or more cities and their surrounding county ( parish in Louisiana, borough in Alaska) merge into one unified jurisdiction. As such it has the governmental powers ...
, meaning that the San Francisco City Attorney handles legal duties in areas that would in other counties be the responsibility of the county counsel (such as county health and social services functions) as well as the duties of all California city attorneys (police and fire). The San Francisco city attorney is also unusually powerful because of the broad scope of properties and activities operated by the city and county government (including land ownership in San Mateo County); for example, the city owns the
San Francisco International Airport San Francisco International Airport is an international airport in an unincorporated area of San Mateo County, south of Downtown San Francisco. It has flights to points throughout North America and is a major gateway to Europe, the Middl ...
,
Crystal Springs Reservoir Crystal Springs Reservoir is a pair of artificial lakes located in the northern Santa Cruz Mountains of San Mateo County, California situated in the rift valley created by the San Andreas Fault just to the west of the cities of San Mateo and Hi ...
, Sharp Park Golf Course, San Francisco Employees' Retirement System, and Port of San Francisco.Louise Renne
The Office of the City Attorney of San Francisco
47 Golden Gate U. L. Rev. 125 (2017).


See also

*
Local government in the United States Local government in the United States refers to governmental jurisdictions below the level of the state. Most states and territories have at least two tiers of local government: counties and municipalities. Louisiana uses the term parish and Al ...
* Corporation counsel


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:City Attorney * Government occupations Prosecution Lawyers by type