Los Angeles City Attorney

The Los Angeles City Attorney is an elected official who serves as the City of Los Angeles' government's lawyer and as a criminal prosecutor for misdemeanor offenses only. The City Attorney is elected for four years, and the City Charter requires the city attorney to be a lawyer qualified to practice in the California courts for five years preceding their election. In addition the General Counsel Division of the office provides legal counsel for the city and represents it in civil actions. It is not to confused with the Los Angeles County District Attorney, who is an elected official who serves a four year term and is the criminal prosecutor for the County of Los Angeles for both felony and misdemeanor offenses. ^[1]

Los Angeles City Attorney
Seal of Los Angeles
Flag of Los Angeles
Incumbent Hydee Feldstein Soto since December 12, 2022
Type	City attorney
Appointer	Direct election
Term length	4 years
Website	cityattorney.lacity.gov

List of Los Angeles city attorneys

Image	Name	Term
	Benjamin Hayes	1850–1851
	William G. Dryden	1851–1852
	Joseph Lancaster Brent	1852–1853
	Charles E. Carr	1853
	Joseph Lancaster Brent	1853
	Isaac Hartman	1854–1855
	Lewis Granger	1855–1856
	Cameron E. Thom	1856–1858
	James H. Lader	1858–1859
	Samuel F. Reynolds	1859–1861
	James H. Lader	1861–1862
	Myer J. Newmark	1862
	Alfred Chapman	1862–1865
	James H. Lader	1865
	Andrew J. King	1866–1868
	Charles H. Larrabee	1868 (did not serve)[a]
	William McPherson	1868–1870
	Frank H. Howard	1870–1872
	Aurelius W. Hutton	1872–1876
	John F. Godfrey	1876–1880
	Henry T. Hazard	1880–1882
	Walter D. Stephenson	1882–1884
	James Wilfred McKinley	1884–1886
	J. C. Daly	1886–1888
	Charles H. McFarland	1888–1894
	William Ellsworth Dunn	1894–1898
	Walter F. Haas	1898–1900
	W. B. Mathews	1900–1906
	Leslie R. Hewitt	1906–1910
	John W. Shenk	1910–1913
	Albert Lee Stephens Sr.	1913–1919
	Charles S. Burnell	1919–1921
	Jess E. Stephens	1921–1929
	Erwin P. Werner	1929–1933
	Ray L. Chesebro	1933–1953
	Roger Arnebergh	1953–1973
	Burt Pines	1973–1981
	Ira Reiner	1981–1985
	James Hahn	1985–2001
	Rocky Delgadillo	2001–2009
	Carmen Trutanich	2009–2013
	Mike Feuer	2013–2022
	Hydee Feldstein Soto	2022–present

Notes

1. "The election took place as ordered by the council on April 6, 1868. All officials were duly elected on that date and certified on the 9th of April, three days later, but did not hold a single session. Instead, the existing administration continued to function until December 7, 1868. The April election seems to have been wholly ignored." Chronological Record of Los Angeles City Officials 1850–1938, Municipal Reference Library, March 1938, reprinted 1946.

References

1. Sonenshein, Raphael J. (2006). Los Angeles : structure of a city government (PDF). [Los Angeles]: League of Women Voters of Los Angeles. ISBN 0-9668991-1-3.

External links

• Official website of the City Attorney

• Los Angeles portal