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Corporation Counsel outlines law department budget, pending litigation and federal‑response work
Summary
Corporation Counsel Adam Cederbaum told the Ways and Means Committee the law department operates as an in‑house firm for the city, proposed a $10.9 million FY26 budget, described 69 staff and said the department is pursuing or supporting federal‑response litigation and amicus briefs while managing roughly 290–300 pending cases.
At a May 12 Boston City Council Committee on Ways and Means hearing, Corporation Counsel Adam Cederbaum and the law department described the department’s mission, staffing and budget needs and answered councilors’ questions about litigation costs, outside counsel use and public‑records workloads.
The law department’s work matters because it provides legal advice to city departments, performs transactional work, and defends the city in lawsuits; changes in federal policy have added litigation and amicus work that the department said is on top of its regular duties.
Cederbaum told the committee the department is “essentially an in‑house law firm representing the city of Boston.” He said the law department proposed a FY26 operating budget of about $10.9 million and reported a…
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