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:
“A sturdy lad from New Hampshire or Vermont who in turn tries all the professions, who teams it, farms it, peddles, keeps a school, preaches, edits a newspaper, goes to Congress, buys a township, and so forth, in successive years, and always like a cat falls on his feet, is worth a hundred of these city dolls. He walks abreast with his days and feels no shame in not “studying a profession,” for he does not postpone his life, but lives already.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“I always was of opinion that the placing a youth to study with an attorney was rather a prejudice than a help.... The only help a youth wants is to be directed what books to read, and in what order to read them.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)