Ratio of Attorneys to Population in In-House City Attorney’s Offices in Southern California
August 30, 2011 Leave a comment
By Michael Reiter, Attorney at Law
Continuing my series on In-House City Attorney’s Offices in Southern California, here is a new set of data comparing the Attorneys to population in City Attorney’s Offices.
| City Name | Pop. (2011 est.) | # Attorneys | Atty/Population Ratio |
| San Bernardino | 211,076 | 10 | 21,108 |
| Redlands | 69,231 | 1 | 69,231 |
| Riverside County | |||
| Moreno Valley | 195,216 | 3 | 65,072 |
| Riverside | 306,779 | 14 | 21,913 |
| Los Angeles County | |||
| Burbank | 104,304 | 11 | 9,482 |
| Compton | 96,925 | 4 | 24,231 |
| Culver City | 38,973 | 4 | 9,743 |
| Glendale | 192,473 | 13 | 14,805 |
| Hawthorne | 84,854 | 3.6** | 23,571 |
| Inglewood | 110,028 | 10** | 11,003 |
| Long Beach | 463,894 | 22 | 11,894 |
| Long Beach City Prosecutor | Included Above | 17 | Included Above |
| Los Angeles | 3,810,129 | 444 | 8,581 |
| Palmdale | 153,334 | 2 | 76,667 |
| Pasadena | 138,915 | 20 | 6,946 |
| Redondo Beach | 66,970 | 6 | 11,162 |
| Santa Monica | 90,174 | 24.5 | 3,681 |
| Torrance | 145,927 | 6 | 24,321 |
| Orange | |||
| Anaheim | 341,034 | 23 | 14,828 |
| Huntington Beach | 190,377 | 7 | 27,196 |
| Newport Beach | 85,376 | 5.7 | 14,978 |
| Orange | 136,995 | 4 | 34,249 |
| Santa Ana | 325,228 | 8.5 | 38,262 |
| Ventura County | |||
| Oxnard | 199,722 | 5 | 39,944 |
| Simi Valley | 125,026 | 4 | 31,257 |
| Thousand Oaks | 127,557 | 4 | 31,899 |
| Ventura | 107,124 | 4 | 26,781 |
| San Diego County | |||
| Carlsbad | 106,555 | 4 | 26,639 |
| Chula Vista | 246,496 | 8 | 30,812 |
| Escondido | 145,196 | 7 | 26,774 |
| National City | 58,785 | 2.5 | 23,514 |
| Oceanside | 168,173 | 6 | 28,029 |
| San Diego | 1,311,882 | 147 | 8,924 |
| Vista | 94,431 | 3 | 31,477 |
| Imperial | |||
| El Centro | 43,145 | 3** | 14,382 |
| * 2011-2012 Proposed | |||
| ** 2010-2011 Adopted | |||
Not surprisingly, the ratio is usually lowest in cities that prosecute state law misdemeanors and in large cities. For example, Anaheim has a ratio of one attorney per 14,828 in population. Los Angeles has one attorney per 8,851 people. San Diego, the State of California’s second largest city, has a similar ratio, one city attorney per 8,924 people. Palmdale, Redlands, and Moreno Valley have the highest ratios.
What does the data mean? The average in Southern California is one attorney per 20,000 population. I think in some cases, it means that some cities are richer than other cities. I think Santa Monica is certainly in this category, with one attorney per 3,861 in population. In other cases, it may mean that some cities are overweight. In researching this data, I found, for example, that El Centro was considering eliminating its in-house City Attorney’s Office. The City of Oxnard looks like it could use another attorney, but these are fiscally trying times.
One caveat is that the cities are not equal. The number of attorneys includes attorneys in cities that prosecute state law misdemeanors. Also, full service cities should be expected to need more help then non-full service cities. That explains Palmdale and Moreno Valley a little, but Moreno Valley cut a vacant position in 2010, also skewing the ratio.
The information you obtain at this blog is not, nor is it intended to be, legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is established by reading or commenting on this blog. You should consult an attorney for advice regarding your individual situation.
About Michael Reiter, Attorney at Law
Michael Reiter, Municipal Attorney with Milligan, Attorney, Beswick, Levine & Knox LLP Blog 