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Practical Law for City and County Attorneys

City and county attorneys really are some of the most multi-faceted attorneys in the government space. Not only are you expected to be trusted legal advisors and occasional litigators for the city or county, you’re also presumed to have expertise in legislative and regulatory issues, zoning and planning, real estate, internal government policy and training, contracting, drafting, and literally everything in between.

The fact of the matter is, no matter how talented or smart or hard working you are, you just can’t be an expert at everything. The number of new or emerging legal issues increases year by year and so do the expectations placed on city and county attorneys to do more with less. But here’s the deal: it’s 2021. There’s no need to stretch yourself thin trying to do it all — let Practical Law lighten the load.

Staying on top of legal changes

Being a reliable legal advisor means you need to be apprised of legal changes that have the potential to affect your job, your office, and the city or county you serve. That in and of itself could be a full-time job. Policies, regulations, and laws can change quickly and you need to know when those changes are happening.

Where do you go to get up to speed when a legal change is on the horizon? Are you reading through dense legislation without the context of real-world application? And how do you account for changes that need to be made in your contracts, memos, and training once that change goes into effect? Practical Law has a team of more than 280 full-time attorney-editors that are dedicated to doing just that: making sure you not only understand changes in the law as they happen, but have access to updated and continuously maintained resources within 48 hours of those changes, saving you hours of research and editing time.

Getting ahead of emerging issues

If staying on top of changes to existing law is taking up so much time, how much time are you able to dedicate to researching and anticipating emerging issues? How can you be proactive and not just reactive when it comes to adjusting to changes? Most government attorneys believe that the variety and complexity of legal issues they’re presented with will only continue to increase each year.

Let’s face it. No one is truly an expert on the hot topics facing our communities right now because there’s just not enough guidance and practice on some of these issues. Is your city trying to figure out how to handle the emergence of dockless bikes? Is your county struggling to understand how tiny homes should be zoned or regulated?

Practical Law has you covered. You can find practical guidance on these new and trending issues and see what other cities have done to tackle these questions. Other municipalities, cities, and counties are dealing with these cultural and legal phenomena for the first time and Practical Law makes it easy to plan and offer advice based on what has and hasn’t worked elsewhere.

Training your colleagues

So now that you’re up to speed on legal or regulatory changes, it should be quick and simple to advise and train your colleagues on the subjects that impact them, right? That’s likely not the case at all. You’ll have to make sure you can explain these laws, regulations, or policy changes in a digestible but thorough manner. You’ll have to spend hours, if not days, researching and building training materials. You’ll have to put together a presentation or internal memo or update an office policy.

Or you can take advantage of the fact that Practical Law is doing some of that leg work for you. Our editorial team has drafted sample policies, memos, and downloadable presentation decks that are meticulously maintained, so that you can conduct yearly or one-off training sessions without having to worry about whether or not the information is still valid.

Let Practical Law lend a hand

No matter how dedicated you are to your role, burnout is real. But you don’t have to take on everything alone — get the support and resources you need to practice and advise confidently. To learn more about how Practical Law can go to work for you, click below to receive no-obligation trial access.

Practical law for government

The legal know-how that gives government lawyers a better starting point