Office of the City Attorney

As of March 18, 2020, the City Attorney’s Office is closed to the public. All meetings have been cancelled. Most attorneys and staff members are working from home, including monitoring their email and voice mail. If you need to contact a particular attorney or staff member, please send an email to that individual or call his or her direct dial telephone number. If you do not know the direct dial number, please call 414-286-2601 and leave a message. The voice mail on our main number is monitored and the message will get to the appropriate individual.

City Attorney Grant F. Langley

GRANT F. LANGLEY was first elected City Attorney in 1984. Prior to his election, he served as an Assistant City Attorney for 13 years. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the State Bar of Wisconsin, and the Milwaukee Bar Association. He is the past president of the Government Lawyer's Division of the State Bar of Wisconsin, and is a member of the Administrative & Local Government Law Section (Director 1985-1994; Chair 1991). He was a member of the Board of Governors of the State Bar from 2001-2008 and chaired the Board during its 2003-2004 term. He is also a member of the International Municipal Lawyers Association (State Chair 1990-1993; Regional Vice-President 1993-1995), and a past member of the District II Board of Attorneys Professional Responsibility Committee (Member 1987-1995; Chair 1995). He served on the Supreme Court Appointment Selection Committee between 2001 and 2003. He holds a Juris Doctor degree from Marquette University Law School.

Highlights:

• By City Charter, the Office of the City Attorney handles City litigation, provides legal advice and opinions, prepares and reviews City resolutions and ordinances, drafts contracts and other legal documents, and prosecutes violations of City ordinances in Municipal Court.
• To improve the quality of life in the City, the Office of the City Attorney has initiated a higher volume of nuisance actions than ever before, based on building and health code violations, tenant disturbances, drug activity, and irresponsible businesses.
• The Office of the City Attorney handles an increasing case workload that includes thousands of lawsuits and administrative cases. Assistant City Attorneys litigate civil rights cases, personal injury actions, evictions, razing cases, labor grievances, contract and constructions cases, as well as condemnation and real estate matters.
• The Office of the Attorney has established streamlined procedures to collect outstanding claims and judgments, and has created a citywide bankruptcy clearing house, in an effort to increase City revenues.
• Hundreds of contracts, resolutions, ordinances, and opinions are prepared annually by City Attorney staff lawyers.
• The Ordinance Enforcement Division, located in the Police Administration Building, efficiently manages a caseload of municipal prosecutions numbering in the tens of thousands. 

Notice:

The City Attorney’s client is the legal entity of the City of Milwaukee. Lawyers are prohibited from providing legal advice to the public or to parties other than the municipal corporation of the City of Milwaukee. The City Attorney’s Office cannot represent or advise private individuals in legal matters.