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:
“The nearest the modern general or admiral comes to a small-arms encounter of any sort is at a duck hunt in the company of corporation executives at the retreat of Continental Motors, Inc.”
—C. Wright Mills (1916–1962)
“Please do not take counsel of women who are so prejudiced that, as I once heard said, they would not allow a male grasshopper to chirp on their lawn; but out of your own great heart, refuse to set an example to such folly.”
—Frances E. Willard (1839–1898)