The Corporation Counsel shall be the head of the Department of Law. In case of the absence or disability of the Corporation Counsel or a vacancy in the office, the City Manager with approval of the Common Council shall appoint a suitable person to discharge the duties of the office until the Corporation Counsel returns, such disability ceases or the vacancy is filled.
The Corporation Counsel shall be and act as the legal advisor of the Mayor, of the Common Council, City Manager and of the several officers, boards and departments of the city. The Corporation Counsel shall appear for and protect the rights and interests of the city in all actions, suits and proceedings brought by or against it or any of the city officers, boards or departments, and such officers, boards or departments shall not employ other counsel. The Corporation Counsel shall attend to all the law business of the city and discharge such other duties as may be prescribed by law or ordinance of the Common Council.
The position of Corporation Counsel shall be appointed by the City Manager to serve either as a full or part-time position, as the City Manager shall determine. The Corporation Counsel shall handle the legal requirements and demands of all city officers, boards, agencies and departments, and the Corporation Counsel shall be responsible for, and be required to furnish, all legal advice and legal recommendations to all of the city's officers, boards, agencies and departments. Neither the Corporation Counsel nor any attorney appointed to discharge the duties of the office in the case of absence or disability of the Corporation Counsel, the Assistant Corporation Counsel nor any subordinates shall receive any fee or compensation of any kind for services rendered in an official capacity, other than the salary fixed by the Mayor and Common Council.
The Corporation Counsel shall maintain an office in City Hall. The Corporation Counsel shall keep in such office all legal files pertaining to the city.
The Corporation Counsel shall pay over at once to the Comptroller all moneys collected for or in behalf of the city, including fines and penalties; and shall annually, on the 31st day of December in each year, file with the Mayor of the city an inventory of all books and property belonging to the city in the Corporation Counsel's custody. A docket shall be kept by the Corporation Counsel to contain a full description of all actions and proceedings in which the Corporation Counsel appears for the city. The docket shall show, at all times, the condition of all such actions or legal proceedings.
No written contract providing for the payment of $5000 or more entered into by the city or any of its officers, boards or departments shall become effective or be acted upon until there shall be endorsed thereon by the Corporation Counsel a certificate to the effect that the city officer, board or department which has executed the same on behalf of the city had authority and power to make such contract and that such contract is in proper form and properly executed. The Corporation Counsel shall approve all deeds, conveyances, leases and abstracts of title affecting property acquired, conveyed to or leased by the city.
[Amended 6-27-2011 by L.L. No. 6-2011]
The Corporation Counsel shall, whenever the interests of the city will be served thereby, enter into an agreement in writing, subject to the approval of the City Manager and the Common Council, to compromise and settle any claim against the city; and the amount shall constitute a valid obligation against the city; and the amount therein provided to be paid shall, with interest thereon from its date, be included in the next city tax budget and be collected and paid the same in all respects as a judgment against the city. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the City Manager may, on recommendation of the Corporation Counsel and without the approval of the Common Council, compromise and settle any property damage claim against the city in an amount not to exceed $5,000.
The Corporation Counsel, with the consent of the City Manager and Common Council, may employ counsel and experts to assist in the argument and conduct of cases or proceedings in which the city is interested or is a party, and may also appoint such subordinates, including stenographers and typists, as may be prescribed by the City Manager and Common Council, upon the written recommendation of the Corporation Counsel. The compensation of such counsel, experts and subordinates shall be fixed by the Common Council. The position of Assistant Corporation Counsel is hereby established. No person shall be eligible to appointment as Assistant Corporation Counsel unless admitted to practice as an attorney and counselor in the Supreme Court of the State of New York.
The amount of any judgment recovered against the city and payable by it, remaining unpaid, with the interest thereon, in case the time to appeal therefrom has expired and no appeal has been taken, or a certificate of no appeal therefrom has been given by the Corporation Counsel, or in case such judgment is finally affirmed or an appeal taken and the execution thereon shall not be stayed, shall be reported to the Common Council immediately after the same shall have become payable, as aforesaid; and the amount thereof shall be included in the next tax budget. Such judgments shall be paid in the order of their recovery out of the moneys first paid into the city treasury on account of the annual taxes. If, however, there be any moneys in the treasury to the credit of any fund derived from city revenues, other than taxation, in excess of the estimated revenues from such source and not otherwise appropriated, sufficient to satisfy judgments against the city, the Comptroller shall issue warrants for the payment of such judgments out of said funds in the order of their recovery. Until the moneys applicable to the payment of a judgment have been raised and paid into the city treasury and payment of the judgment has been refused, no execution shall issue against the city unless the amount of such judgment shall not have been included in the tax budget.