Is it fun being a City Attorney? Forum

[Anonymous User]

As someone who has only worked as an assistant city/county attorney since graduating from law school a few years back I feel obligated to answer questions.
Basics
Went to a top 14
Major secondary market: One of Atlanta/Dallas/Houston /Charlotte /Miami/Austin

Entry level city/county attorney
75k salary
Mostly litigation work
A bit of contract review
Never tried a case but could easily end up having to
Heavy control over my cases
I do not prosecute traffic violations.

Our City/County Attorney makes $250k and is hired not appointed.

[Anonymous User]

i know several city attys in big coastal cities. tis a sweet gig.

[Anonymous User]

I've done it, and my initial response is, "LOL NO." Upon reconsideration, I'm sure it varies a lot by city and gig. In my experience, it was a lot of hair-on-fire shit from the city counsel that, often, wasn't really that important or time-sensitive but you have no choice but to drop everything and work on it. Evenings at meetings. Explaining legal concepts in stupid phone calls with stupid laypeople who aren't listening to what you're saying (this is harsh, but I have bad memories). Fighting with various unions over city employee terminations and dealing with politicians freaking out over the fallout. Fighting with tort lawyers over alleged cop misconduct and dealing with politicians freaking out over the fallout. Drafting a fucking parking ordinance and dealing with politicians freaking out over the fallout. I could go on, but you get the idea.

Disclaimer: It's just one person's experience. If you're a bit lower on the chain and get to work in a more chill area that doesn't interact with the city government as much, it might be ok, but then the pay would likely be shit. Like anon above who does work in a southern secondary market, his job is probably not bad, but he gets paid well below market. Might be a decent lifestyle gig. Not sure how it looks on a resume, but I'm assuming it's a decent/solid entry.

TL;DR: You basically work for the city council, and have you ever known a city council that you would describe as competent, intelligent, and reasonable?

[registering]

SoCal city attorneys get paid pretty well. LA's seem to cap at around $170K, and there are hundreds of people at that level last time I checked. Entry is about $65-80K, but the people I've seen at least on the prosecution side seem to be able to hit $100K within a few years.

Hard to say how "fun" it is, but I see it as a great upper middle class job with probably much better QoL than what you'd get in biglaw. If I had a reasonable shot at getting into one of those jobs, I probably would've stayed regional.

[Anonymous User]

As others have said, there is no one size fits all answer here. I am an attorney for a very large city. The work that I do is challenging, the experience and responsibility that I receive is unparalleled in the private sector, the field of law is booming (and large firms have practice areas focusing in the field), my hours are fantastic, the benefits are better, and the work environment is as low stress as possible.

The pay is less than half of biglaw market rate, but better than many small firms. The senior attorney's range from mediocre to awful. The training that I receive from others ranges from non-existent to a negative.

There are attorneys in different units/groups within my office whose experience is drastically different than mine.