Our role
The City Attorney serves as the lawyer for the City and County of San Francisco. We provide exceptional legal representation to City officials and agencies. We represent the City in court and advise its leaders so they can best serve the public.
We do not handle criminal matters or represent individual members of the public.
Our organization
We divide our work into several core areas:
Administration
Our administrative teams manage office operations and support City Attorney employees.
Advice and transactional
We interpret laws, provide advice, and support City policy making. These teams also draft new laws, contracts, bonds, and real property titles.
Affirmative litigation
We file proactive, civil lawsuits to protect San Francisco.
Learn more about our affirmative litigation.
Defensive litigation
We represent and defend the City in court when the City is sued. These teams also investigate and resolve all claims against the City.
Public integrity and other investigations
We investigate claims filed against the City. We also look into public integrity issues to make sure City employees act ethically.
Our teams
We have over 25 teams in our office structured around key City functions:
- Accounting and Facilities
- Airport
- Claims
- Code enforcement
- Complex and Affirmative Litigation
- Contracts and Construction
- Dependency and Mental Health
- Energy and Telecommunications
- Ethics and Elections
- Executive
- Government
- Government Litigation and Appeals
- Health and Human Services
- Human Resources
- Information Services
- Labor
- Land Use and Environment
- Legal Support
- Port of San Francisco
- Public Integrity and Investigations
- Public Utilities
- Real Estate and Finance
- Retirement
- Strategic Advocacy
- Tax
- Transportation
- Trial
- Worker Protection
- Workers' Compensation
Organizational structure
Diversity, equity, and inclusion
Our office brings a focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion to all that we do. We fight for fairness and justice in and out of the courtroom. We advise City leaders, write legislation, and review contracts with a focus on equity.
Our office works hard to make sure everyone feels welcome and is treated fairly. We strive to recruit, hire, and promote talented individuals from all communities. We provide high-quality training and development.
Our Racial Equity Action Plan guides our strategies to advance racial equity work: