City of Long Beach

The Commitment behind Local Government

Advising municipalities has given me a deep appreciation for public service leadership. People often expect perfection from their City leaders; rarely do they appreciate the hard work City employees put in every day to do their best with limited resources.

I am always inspired by the City employees who tackle tough issues with creativity, thoughtfulness and compassion, who do not take public criticism personally, who realize the value of community input and seek it out and who work far more than 40 hours a week to get as much done as they possibly can. I am truly honored to work with these amazing people every day and to help them solve problems that make our community better.

Solving Complex Challenges through Collaboration

Cities are always on the front lines of societal issues. For example, homelessness is a major issue across the nation, and our city is no different. Our legal team has been a critical member of a multidepartmental team that seeks to address this problem on multiple fronts - shelter beds, transitional housing, longer-term housing, job/skill training, substance abuse and mental health assistance, tackling upstream issues that push people into homelessness, looking for regional solutions that could bring a larger positive impact than what we can do only within our city boundaries.

Human trafficking, public safety, and immigration conflicts between local communities and the federal government are also difficult issues that require proactive, complex, thoughtful problem-solving from municipal leaders and legal advisors. Every day, there are new challenges that require creative problemsolving approaches, and my team and I look for options that are legally sound, address the problem effectively, are fiscally responsible and are in the best interests of the community.

Leading with Transparency and Accountability

I believe transparency and accountability are extremely important, especially as government attorneys. One aspect of being a government lawyer that I have always appreciated is that we are required to do the right thing, which is a higher bar than basic legal ethics, which allows attorneys to seek any legal result requested by the client.

Our overarching mission is to protect the city legally and to ensure the city is operating legally, but we try to do so with as much transparency as possible. My team and I are very responsive to residents, the media, City staff and our elected officials, and we are always willing to explain what we are doing and why.

Our overarching mission is to protect the City legally and to ensure the City is operating legally, but we try to do so with as much transparency as possible.

We continuously update our website to include non-privileged communications with City leaders and guidance documents that provide clarity on legal requirements for public meetings and governing conduct of City officials. We work closely with the City’s Ethics office and the City Clerk’s office to publish ethical guidelines and training for City employees, elected officials and appointed officials. My team and I also attend community meetings and other City events to answer questions from residents.

Building Solutions through Collaboration

Government leaders have constituents with many diverse and divergent viewpoints and who want different things from their government, and there are often many different ways things can be done. I advise my team to work with their clients, whether they are City staff, managers, appointed officials or elected officials, to find out what their actual goals are and to find ways to help them reach those goals, even if they can’t do it the way they originally proposed.

Our job is to help make government work for the people it serves and to use our legally based problem-solving skills to do so. I’ve also learned that it is incredibly important to make sure everyone on the team knows that they are respected and valued. No office functions at a high level without everyone’s contribution.

A Practical Approach to Legal AI

AI is going to dramatically change the way all industries operate, and law is no exception. AI can be a powerful tool if used thoughtfully and responsibly to increase efficiency and take over labor-intensive work that does not require legal skill or experience.

Since government attorneys are always required to do more with less, harnessing this tool could help us continue to provide excellent service despite limited resources. It could also help us manage the cost of using outside counsel by requiring them to use AI rather than billing for people to handle simple or laborintensive tasks that don’t require legal skill or experience.