A city attorney can be an elected or appointed position in city and municipal government in the United States. The city attorney is the attorney representing the city or municipality.
In some small towns, the city attorney is usually a lawyer in private practice and handles only governmental matters. In other towns or cities the he or she also prosecutes minor crimes.
A city attorney generally handles all legal matters for the city, from traffic tickets to civil lawsuits to acting as a general counsel, giving legal advice for city departments.
Areas of focus may include:
- Civil claims against city (such as claims against the city police department)
- Criminal - prosecute misdemeanors and violations (felonies are usually prosecuted by a district attorney, State's Attorney or Commonwealth's Attorney)
- Real estate - drug/alcohol nuisance, substandard housing or code enforcement
Famous quotes containing the words city and/or attorney:
“The city is loveliest when the sweet death racket begins. Her own life lived in defiance of nature, her electricity, her frigidaires, her soundproof walls, the glint of lacquered nails, the plumes that wave across the corrugated sky. Here in the coffin depths grow the everlasting flowers sent by telegraph.”
—Henry Miller (1891–1980)
“Even an attorney of moderate talent can postpone doomsday year after year, for the system of appeals that pervades American jurisprudence amounts to a legalistic wheel of fortune, a game of chance, somewhat fixed in the favor of the criminal, that the participants play interminably.”
—Truman Capote (1924–1984)