Office of the City Attorney | City of San Diego

CITY ATTORNEY
Michael Aguirre
Biography

Independent City Attorney

"The City Attorney is to be elected by the people. This is a guarantee that the legal head of the government will be able to fearlessly protect interests of all San Diego and not merely be an attorney appointed to carry out wishes of council or manager."

– 1931 election piece asking voters to elect an independent City Attorney

•	San Diego City Charter Section 40. City Attorney Section 40.1 Concurrent Jurisdication of City Attorney with District Attorney (PDF: 30K)
•	Role of the City Attorney (PDF: 2.8Mb)
•	City Attorney Legal Opinion on Authority to Initiate Litigation (PDF: 1.5Mb)
•	Public Records Act Legal Opinion (PDF: 796K)
•	Annual Office Reports

City Attorney�s Report to the Citizens of San Diego
On January 11, 2008 City Attorney Mike Aguirre spoke of the legal accomplishments of the City Attorney�s Office and highlighted critical issues of interest to San Diegans.
• Watch the video
• View the City Attorney�s Report to the Citizens of San Diego (PDF: 2.0Mb)

About the Office
• Administration
• Organizational Charts
• Recruitment

Civil Division
• Legal Opinions
• List of Lawsuits (PDF: 104K)
• Memoranda of Law
• Reports to City Council
• Resolutions & Ordinances
• City Council Closed Session Votes

Criminal Division
• Neighborhood Prosecution Unit
• Consumer & Environmental Protection
• Code Enforcement Unit
• Drug Abatement Response Team (DART)
• Domestic Violence & Special Victims Unit

06.24.08
by Michael Aguirre, San Diego City Attorney
Letters to the Union-Tribune U-T Editorial Department
Bad Journalistic Practices
The U-T continues to publish misinformation about the City Attorney's Office; especially, the editorial opinion of June 23, related to the City's hiring of contingency-fee lawyers. Below are two editorials, one was heavily edited and the other from Executive Assistant City Attorney Don McGrath wasn�t even published.
• Union-Tribune editorial, June 23, 2008 (Edited) (PDF: 9K)
• Union-Tribune editorial, June 23, 2008 (Unpublished) (PDF: 11K)