City Attorney

The City Attorney’s Office consists of the city attorney, a deputy city attorney, an assistant city attorney, a paralegal and a part time attorney.

State law says that the city attorney shall conduct all the legal business in which the city is interested. In practical terms, this means that the city attorneys provide day-to-day advice and legal representation to the city council; the city manager; boards, commissions and committees of the City; and to the various departments, divisions and staff offices of the city administration.

The City Attorney’s office:

• does legal research;
• drafts and reviews documents such as contracts, easements and deeds that the city needs;
• drafts or reviews policies for the city’s various departments and divisions;
• drafts resolutions and ordinances that go to the council for approval;
• provides legal advice to the council, boards and commissions on issues which come before them;
• provides legal advice to other departments pertaining to issues and projects they are involved with;
• provides training to staff and city officials
• works with the insurer to review claims that are filed against the city; and
• manages litigation that the city is involved in
• provides information and works cooperatively with other local, state and federal government entities and municipal government associations.

The City Attorney’s Office also represents the City of Oshkosh in municipal ordinance prosecution through the Winnebago County Circuit Court system. If you are interested in this or have a citation, we encourage you to click on the link for prosecutorial information Court Procedures.

Can the City Attorney give you legal advice?

The City Attorney cannot give legal advice to private individuals.

The City Attorney’s client is the City of Oshkosh as a municipal corporate entity. The taxpayers are the customers of the city, but the city attorney, like a corporate attorney, represents the City, not the individual customers.

Good legal advice and services benefit all taxpayers as a whole by avoiding potential liability, making certain that contracts are written clearly, enforcing the city’s ordinances and assisting the other city departments to ensure that they can continue to provide the services we all need and rely upon.

If you have private legal questions or are looking for private legal advice please click on the links for Office Referrals and Legal Links on this webpage.