The Corporation Counsel is the title given to the chief legal officer in some municipal and county jurisdictions, who handles civil claims against the city, including negotiating settlements and defending the city when it is sued. Most Corporation Counsel do not prosecute criminal cases, though some prosecute traffic and local ordinance violations. In Washington D.C., the former Corporation Counsel, now known as Attorney General, prosecutes juvenile delinquency cases in addition to traffic and local ordinance violations.
The cities of New York, and Chicago, among others, use this title. Counties in Hawaii and Wisconsin have Corporation Counsel as well.
In some jurisdictions, such as counties in Ohio, the County Prosecuting Attorney is by law Corporation Counsel for the County and other governmental entities in the county.
Famous quotes containing the words corporation and/or counsel:
“What I am anxious to do is to get the best bill possible with the least amount of friction.... I wish to avoid [splitting our party]. I shall do all in my power to retain the corporation tax as it is now and also force a reduction of the [tariff] schedules. It is only when all other efforts fail that I’ll resort to headlines and force the people into this fight.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“There is as much difference between the counsel that a friend giveth, and that a man giveth himself, as there is between the counsel of a friend and of a flatterer. For there is no such flatterer as is a man’s self.”
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626)