City law department reports lower outside-counsel use; council hears concerns about administrative-review board and code-enforcement liens

City Attorney Patrice Perkins and senior deputies briefed the committee on the Department of Law’s third-quarter activities on July 14, reporting a decrease in outside-counsel reliance, a steady claims workload and an accounting of recent settlements that the committee approved on the consent agenda. Council members pressed staff about code-enforcement processes, the status of the administrative interim review board and the legal effect of recent court rulings.

Perkins said the department had shifted more cases in-house and that, as of the report period, roughly half of open litigation matters were being handled by city attorneys rather than outside counsel. “Of the 3 hun 287 cases that we had open as of that period in time, a 151 of them were being handled in house,” she said, and added that the department closed and settled multiple litigation matters during the period.

The committee approved several settlement resolutions on the consent…