Sort out for me: state's attorney, city attorney, district attorney...

Factual Questions
1

…and while we’re on the subject, state attorney general.

Marilyn Mosby is state attorney for the city of Baltimore, like Alicia Florrick (The Good Wife) is state attorney for the city of Chicago. The city where I live has a city attorney and a district attorney, but I never heard the term “state attorney” until I started watching The Good Wife. State attorney sounds like it should be related to the state, i.e., Illinois or Maryland. Can someone explain these hierarchies, or direct me to a good site to sort it out? Thx.

2

The job of prosecuting criminals in the United States is generally up to an official called a District Attorney, or State Attorney, which means pretty much the same thing. Generally these people are elected or appointed to prosecute criminals in a given district or municipality. All the prosecutors in a state are overseen by the state Attorney General, who may have other law enforcement responsibilities. The same structure is used in the federal system (except all federal district attorneys are appointed by the President.)

The actual work of prosecuting may be handled by multiple levels of assistants; in the federal system, most actual courtroom work is done by Assistant District Attorneys except in very high-profile cases.

Usually the term “city attorney” refers to someone who advises and represents a city in legal proceedings, such as lawsuits against the city. In some small towns the city attorney may also prosecute misdemeanors or other petty crimes.

3

Interesting… so Alicia Florrick in Chicago and Jack McCoy (Law & Order) in New York City actually have the same, or at least analogous, jobs.

4

This varies according to each individual state’s law.

In Ohio, the state is represented by the prosecuting attorney, who is elected at the county level, and is commonly referred to as the “county prosecutor” or just “prosecutor.”

“State” might appear in the name “state’s attorney for the City of Baltimore,” because within the jurisdictional bounds of the City of Baltimore (which is a “county-equivalent,” or “independent city”) she has the authority to represent the state (both in the sense of “state” as in a state that makes up the United States, and in the sense of a sovereign power generally).

5

No, Alicia Florrick is the State’s Attorney for Cook County. Her husband was previously also the State’s Attorney for Cook County, although at the beginning of the series they lived in Lake Forest which is located in Lake County. Fortunately, they moved to Chicago early in the first season.

The Cook County State’s Attorney prosecutes cases in the Circuit Court of Cook County, which, despite the name, is a state court.

6

Its proper name is the Illinois Circuit Court for Cook County.

In the United States, a court is either a federal court or a state court. Any individual state can limit the jurisdiction of one of its courts, and call it a county or municipal or whatever court, but they are all state courts.

7

I’m going to have to ask for a cite on that.

I cannot find the phrase “Illinois Circuit Court for Cook County” anywhere in the state constitution, the Illinois Compiled Statutes, nor any court web site. Opinions issued by the Illinois Supreme Court consistently refer to it as the “Circuit Court of Cook County.”

The only place I can find the phrase “Illinois Circuit Court for Cook County” is on some law firm press releases and some blogs. Google only shows three pages of results for that phrase (when entered in quotation marks).

8

How about the website of the Illinois Circuit Court?

“Illinois Circuit Court home page”

9

And yet there is not a single reference to “Illinois Circuit Court for Cook County.” If that is really an official name for the court, you’d think it would be mentioned in some official document somewhere, no?

10

It varies by state. Here’s how it works in New York:

Each county has a “District Attorney.” He or she is an elected official responsible for prosecuting crimes in the county. Most often, the prosecution of individual cases is handled by Assistant District Attorneys hired and supervised by the DA. In Law and Order, Steven Hill played Adam Schiff, who was the DA for New York County (Manhattan), and Sam Waterston, Michael Moriarty, Jill Hennessy, and Carey Lowell, among others played ADAs (though I think Sam Waterston became DA in the last few seasons). In some states, like Maryland and Illinois, the county prosecutor is called the State Attorney, which is the equivalent to the District Attorney in New York.

The Attorney General is a statewide elected official, who is responsible representing the state in all legal matters, and who is assisted by Assistant Attorney Generals. The AG is mostly responsible for civil litigation involving the state, but also prosecutes a limited number of crimes. She has a Deputy Attorney General, Assistant Attorney Generals, a Solicitor General and a whole host of other attorneys in her department, the most senior of which are Presidentially appointed with Senate consent.

Each county has an appointed county attorney, who represents the county in civil litigation. Similarly, most municipalities (cities, towns, villages) have an attorney that represents it in civil litigation, which may be known as the Town Attorney, etc., but in the case of New York City and some other cities, known as the Corporation Counsel. Depending on the size of the municipality, these may be full-time municipal employees, or part-timers, and may have one or more (in the case of New York City, hundreds) of assistants.

There is also the federal system. At the top is the Attorney General, currently Loretta Lynch, who is appointed by the President with Senate consent. She is the chief official responsible for federal law enforcement, and oversees the FBI, DEA and a whole range of other agencies.

Each state has one or more judicial districts/District Courts (e.g. New Jersey has one district the District of New Jersey, while New York has four, the Southern, Eastern, Northern and Western Districts of New York). Each judicial district has a U.S. Attorney, appointed by the President with Senate consent, and assisted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys (AUSAs). Before she was AG, Loretta Lynch was US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York (covering Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island). The US Attorney for each district prosecutes federal crimes and represents the federal government in his or her district, though sometimes Assistant Attorneys General and lawyers for federal agencies are involved.

11

To add a couple of data points to Billdo’s excellent summary: in Virginia, the elected county prosecutor for each county (and each independent city) is styled the Commonwealth’s Attorney, and just like their brethren District Attorney or State’s Attorneys, typically supervise a staff of Assistant Commonwealth Attorneys to actually try cases and represent the Commonwealth of Virginia in criminal matters.

12

So: your city’s District Attorney is almost certainly the guy who would prosecute criminal defendants in your city or county, either personally or by means of his staff of “Assistant District Attorneys” or “Deputy District Attorneys.”

Your city’s “City Attorney,” is the lawyer who would represent the city if it is sued or sues someone over, say, a zoning dispute.

13

Bolding mine. I know beans about the details of NY state government. But …

Did you slip a gear there in bold? Senior state-level attorneys working for the state AG are Presidentially appointed with Senate consent? As in Obama and the 100 Federal Senators?

Or did you mean appointed by the NY state Governor with NY State Senate consent?

Or an I being fooled by local terminology and NY state has an official called the President?

Color me curious.

14

This is great information and very helpful. Thanks to **Billdo **and all.

15

I’ll have to correct myself… They lived in Highland Park (just south of Lake Forest) which is also in Lake County. Sorry for the misinformation.

16

I think he meant to have a paragraph break in there.

There is a New York State Attorney General, and a United States Attorney General. The latter is a cabinet position, head of the Department of Justice, and is appointed by the President of the United States with Senate consent.

17

I slipped a gear.

I was editing my response to add the part about the federal Deputy and Assistant Attorney Generals and working over-fast to make sure I hit the five-minute mark. Now, I realize that I added the part about the Deputy and Assistant attorney generals at the federal level, who are appointed by the President with Senate consent, to the paragraph about the state Attorney General. That sentence should be with the section on US Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

Sorry for the confusion.

18

In Florida we have one state State Attorney for each judicial circuit (the circuits cover between one and four counties each.) Their employees are assistant state attorneys. We also have an Attorney General, whose employees are called assistant attorneys general. Both play a role in the criminal justice system; the state attorneys prosecute most crimes, while the AG’s office handles criminal appeals. The AG can also bring prosecutions directly where they involve multiple judicial circuits (such as a conspiracy that takes place across county lines.)

Then we have county and city attorneys, who provide legal advice to and counties and municipalities and defend them in civil and administrative proceedings. We also have general counsel within each department of the state government, who perform the same function for those departments.

19

We’ve got a couple of unique positions for prosecutors here in Texas. Here’s a few:

County Attorney with Felony Responsibilities: basically a District Attorney, but only responsible for one county, and has the additional duties of a County Attorney, in that he assists the county in civil matters and advises county officials on legal matters. This usually exists in smaller counties, which might have one District Court that serves several counties.

State Prosecuting Attorney: has the particular duty of representing the State before the Court of Criminal Appeals, the highest criminal court in Texas (civil appeals goes to the Supreme Court of Texas, and criminal matters to the CCA). The Office of the SPA will also give help and advice to local prosecutors when requested, if possible.

Special Prosecution Unit: practices all over the state, essentially prosecuting crimes that occur inside prisons.

Lately there’s been a lot of money thrown toward the creation of Border Prosecution Units, handling specific crimes in the border counties.