Department of Law

General Information

MISSION:  To provide professional, ethical, cost effective, aggressive, and competent legal support to meet the legal challenges facing the City of Atlantic City in order to protect and defend the City’s interests.

FUNCTIONS & DIVISIONS:

 
1. Counseling Function: The City Attorney and his/her staff serve as liaisons to the various City departments. As such, they provide legal counsel where required, attend meetings, and aid in the prevention of liability against the City caused by the actions of its employees. An in-house legal staff is advantageous as it provides continuity and convenience of service.

2. Litigation Function. The major categories of litigation are as follows:

(a) Personal Injury and Workers' Compensation.
The City is self-insured for personal injury and workers' compensation. Defense of these cases are primarily handled in-house resulting in a reduction in settlements and liability insurance premiums. As the City Attorney's staff conduct interviews and depositions in City Hall, lost work hours attributable to travel time are also substantially reduced.

(b) Employee Disciplinary.
With the exception of police disciplinary actions (for which the staff attorneys are prohibited by ethics rules to defend), all employee disciplinary actions are handled in-house, allowing for accessibility and reduction in travel time and lost work hours.

(c) Defense of Employee Claims.
The majority of employment litigation cases are handled in-house. They cover a wide range of issues, including the removal of employees from civil service lists for medical, physical, psychological and residency reasons, sexual harassment, civil rights claims, whistle-blower actions, and wrongful termination claims.

(d) Tax Appeal.
With the exception of complex matters, tax appeals are handled in-house.

(e) Tax Foreclosures.
In-house efforts focus on the foreclosure of properties that require prioritization or expedited handling. Due to the time consuming nature of this process, some tax liens eligible for foreclosure are handled by outside counsel.

(f) Collections and Bankruptcies.
The applicable departments prepare bills and the supporting documentation, bill the debtors, and refer the debts of the non-responsive debtors for legal action.

(g) Municipal Court Prosecution.
Prosecutions are handled by the municipal prosecutor and his/her staff. 

(h) General Litigation.
The remaining types of litigation involve various issues including challenges to some municipal policy or action, bid contests, and contract actions. They are handled in-house. Due to the need for familiarity with the subject matter and sensitivity to policy considerations, in-house handling is desirable.

3. City Council:
The Office prepares and reviews resolutions and ordinances for each City Council agenda. It must closely coordinate with the other City departments and the Municipal Clerk.

4. Contracts:
Contracts are prepared in-house, which is efficient due to the close association between the contract preparation process and the City Council agenda process.

5. Document Preparation:
The Office is constantly required to prepare various legal documents, including releases, deeds, and hold-harmless agreements. Likewise, the office also reviews the legal sufficiency of documents received by the City.

6. Opinions: The Office must render legal opinions to the various elected officials and department heads. The Office is also required to respond to constant requests for advice that do not require formal opinions.

7. Risk Management:
As a subdivision to the Law Department, Risk Management serves an important function in the reduction of liability costs against the City. It oversees the treatment of injured employees who may potentially file Workers' Compensation claims. It receives and investigates Notices of Claims for tort litigation, oversees the State Temporary Disability Program, processes payment and reviews bills for medical treatment, coordinates and obtains insurance coverage, enforces PEOSHA and ADA compliance, and maintains confidential medical documentation.

8. Municipal Prosecution:
The City Solicitor oversees the budget and staffing municipal prosecutor.  However, the municipal prosecutor is responsible for the provision of municipal prosecution services.

9. Purchasing Review Committee:
A staff attorney participates in the Purchasing Review process and renders legal opinions regarding same.

10. Maintenance of Records:
The Office maintains the records of suits, claims and contracts. All claim notices are assigned to a staff attorney for pre-litigation evaluation and investigation recommendation.

Conclusion:
With the exception of conflicts, overly complex and/or time consuming matters, the functions of the Law Department are handled primarily in-house. As such, the Law Department saves on the cost that would be charged by private firms, and provides convenience, accessibility and municipal expertise to the City.

STAFFING:                                                                            PRIMARY AREAS

Kathy M. Kissane, Esq.            City Solicitor               

Anthony A. Swan, Esq.            Acting City Solicitor                Police/Fire Issues

Yolanda M. Laney, Esq.          Assistant Solicitor                    Administrative Issues              

Ingrid L. French, Esq.              Assistant Solicitor                    Workers Compensation

John C. Hegarty, Esq.              Assistant Solicitor                    Union Issues, ABC

Michael J. Perugini, Esq.           Assistant Solicitor                    Contracts

Michael A. Magazzu, Esq.        Assistant Solicitor                    Purchasing

Stephanie A. Olivo, Esq.           Assistant Solicitor                    Civil Litigation