Local Government Law

LAW 550

Local governments are cities, counties, special districts, or public authorities. Some types of special districts are school districts, flood control districts, and water districts. Public authorities are government entities that usually perform a single function. For example, fire protection is provided to many Orange County cities by the Orange County Fire Authority. Most basic government services and functions, including police and fire protection, education from kindergarten through community college, sanitation and health services, water, flood control, transportation, and land use regulation are provided by local governments. Local governments license businesses and tax us and our property. Local government permits are required for many activities. Because of the pervasive impact of local governments on our daily lives, you are likely to represent people involved in litigation with local governments or you might have a local government as a client (many local governments hire private law firms rather than a government lawyer). However, you will discover that the law you learned in most of your courses might operates in special ways when a local government is involved. There are special rules of tort law and contract law for local government actions. Many courses focus on rules for private parties and skip the special rules for local governments. Local Government Law is a survey course designed to prepare you to deal with the types of local government issues often encountered in private practice or as a local government lawyer. The course begins with a study of the types of local governments and their powers. We will also examine the legal relationships of local governments with each other and with the state and national government. These concepts are the foundation of all issues involving local government law. Two other important topics we will study are the revenue powers and legal liability of local governments. You will be introduced to other selected topics such as local government employment law, local government contracting, land use control, and researching local government law. The course is designed to teach the basics of local government law for any state, but many of the cases and illustrations will focus on California law and current events. All course materials, including the casebook, will be provided without charge on CD-ROM, on TWEN, or in class handouts. If you desire additional information, contact me at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).