David R. Hunt, City Attorney
Mynette Beauchamp, Assistant City Attorney
Leonie Mulvihill, Assistant City Attorney
Debbie Alcaraz, Administrative Assistant to the City Attorney
Kristy Parker, Paralegal
Kyle Rowen, Deputy City Attorney
Michael Torres, Deputy City Attorney
Cathy Wolcott, Deputy City Attorney (Part-Time)
Cristal McDonald, Office Assistant
Elizabeth Arciniega, Office Assistant (Part-Time)
MISSION STATEMENT
The mission of the Office of the City Attorney is to provide excellent, prompt, practical, solution oriented legal advice to the Council, staff, and Boards and Commissions of the City of Newport Beach. We seek to integrate the legal function with administrative and policy functions of the City at the most basic levels in order to assist in achieving the Council’s objectives and protect the City from liability risks.
DEPARTMENT OVERVIEW
The Office of the City Attorney performs the following functions:
- Advise the City Council, City advisory boards and commissions, and City staff on all legal issues that they face on daily basis in the complex area of municipal operations in California.
- Represent the Council, staff, and the City as an institution either directly or through special counsel relationships before administrative bodies, such as the California Coastal Commission and Regional Water Quality Control Board, and before all courts in all litigation such as contract disputes, specialty municipal litigation, environmental, and elections matters;
- Enforce either directly or through special counsel relationships all aspects of the municipal code in matters such as nuisance abatement, building regulations, and zoning enforcement; and
- Administer the legal business of the City through managing in-house legal services and outside counsel relationships to assure excellent quality, responsiveness and value in performing legal work for the City.