City of Chicago Department of LawLocal authority

The City of Chicago Department of Law is the municipal legal agency responsible for providing comprehensive legal services, counsel, and representation to the Mayor, City Council, and all city departments and agencies. Headed by the Corporation Counsel, it manages a wide array of municipal affairs including civil litigation, public finance, local ordinance enforcement, and transactional legal work. While municipal legal offices existed since Chicago's early incorporation, the modern unified Department of Law was officially established on August 2, 1935, by a city ordinance consolidating several previously separate municipal legal agencies.