Should Chicago Have an Elected City Attorney?
- Chicago’s top lawyer, known as the corporation counsel, is appointed by the mayor and serves at the mayor's pleasure, heading a Law Department of approximately 270 attorneys who...
- For more than half a century prior to 1905, Chicago maintained an elected city attorney who handled lawsuits against the municipal government, managed an independent staff, and submitted...
- Concerns that a mayor-appointed corporation counsel prioritizes the executive office over the city itself have persisted for generations, documented in archival reports such as a 1903 Chicago Tribune...
Chicago’s top lawyer, known as the corporation counsel, is appointed by the mayor and serves at the mayor’s pleasure, heading a Law Department of approximately 270 attorneys who represent the city in court and advise municipal officials.
Historical Shift From an Elected City Attorney in 1905
For more than half a century prior to 1905, Chicago maintained an elected city attorney who handled lawsuits against the municipal government, managed an independent staff, and submitted annual reports to the City Council detailing every pending case. That structure ended when the Illinois General Assembly passed a law asking voters to approve an amendment to the state’s Cities and Villages Act, which abolished the elected city attorney office and transferred its responsibilities to the corporation counsel. Voters approved the 1905 ballot question with 102,360 votes in favor, representing 70 percent, and 43,851 votes opposed, representing 30 percent, according to Chicago Daily News reporting from the period. However, historical records show two major structural flaws in the election: women were entirely barred from voting in Chicago city elections until 1913, and the ballot question itself was worded vaguely as an amendment regarding the incorporation of cities and villages, hiding the structural changes from public view.
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Recent Legal Controversies Fuel Debate Over Mayoral Control
Concerns that a mayor-appointed corporation counsel prioritizes the executive office over the city itself have persisted for generations, documented in archival reports such as a 1903 Chicago Tribune story detailing conflicting legal positions taken by the Law Department. More recently, a report by Gerrin Alexander for the Chicago Policy Center highlights high-profile clashes involving the municipal legal team. In 2020, the Law Department, then run by a longtime friend of Mayor Lori Lightfoot, attempted to block a local television station from broadcasting body-camera video of police handcuffing an innocent, naked woman during a wrong-house raid while also seeking sanctions against her attorney, an uproar that ultimately led to the corporation counsel’s resignation. More recently, when the City Council voted twice to rein in Mayor Brandon Johnson’s cancellation of a gunshot-detection contract, the Law Department sided with the mayor by arguing that the council’s ordinance violated the separation of powers, placing the city’s official legal adviser at odds with the legislative body it is also statutorily required to advise.