County Attorney

Chesterfield County is a political subdivision of the Commonwealth of Virginia, located south of Richmond, Virginia, which has experienced rapid growth over the last twenty years. The County has transitioned from a rural to a largely suburban community providing a full range of urban services. Chesterfield's current population of over 260,000 people represents an increase of nearly 300% over the last twenty years. For two years in a row, City & State magazine ranked Chesterfield as one of the top 25 "Up and Coming" counties in the country and the Wall Street Journal has named the County one of the country's "Top 20" locations for "white-collar" businesses. The County is one of only ten counties in the country with three AAA financial ratings, the highest available to local governments and was awarded the Senate Productivity and Quality Award. The County is also only the second locality in the country to have its utility revenue bonds receive three AAA financial ratings. The Richmond Times-Dispatch has characterized Chesterfield as "...one of the leanest local governments in Virginia."

As the County has grown, so has its local government. The County now has revenues of over $750,000,000 and over 5,000 full-time employees. The school system has over 50,000 students and is now the third largest system in the state. As the County government has grown, so has its need for legal services. Prior to 1976, the County did not have a full-time County Attorney. The current County Attorney, Steven L. Micas, was hired in 1976 and has served as the County Attorney continuously since that time. In the 25 years of its existence, the Chesterfield County Attorney's Office has grown from a one attorney office to its current complement of eight attorneys.

The County Attorney is similar to a corporate "in-house" general counsel, but unlike many corporate general counsel, the office handles all civil legal matters for the County, only employing outside counsel in the event of an ethical conflict of interest. The County Attorney provides ongoing legal advice to each of the County's forty-three departments, and represents the Board of Supervisors, which is the governing body of the County, the County Administrator, who is the chief executive officer, as well as all other county boards and commissions, including the Planning Commission and the Board of Zoning Appeals. Approximately 50% of the workload is litigation or litigation-related, with lawyers in the office practicing at all levels of Virginia's state and federal courts and administrative tribunals. The County maintains a self-insurance system which protects the County and its employees against financial losses from all forms of liability risks. The County Attorney defends the assets of the self-insurance fund and is solely responsible for all litigation decisions related to the defense of any action. Civil claims against the County and its employees have increased substantially in the last decade.

The other 50% of the County Attorney's practice involves client counseling, contract negotiation, ordinance drafting and policy analysis. The breadth of legal matters handled by the office includes almost every area of civil law, but is concentrated in the areas of land use, civil rights, tort defense, environmental, employment disputes, real estate, taxation, contract, construction and constitutional law. The office's practice also includes areas of the law peculiar to local government, such as eminent domain, public procurement, and protecting the interests of abused and neglected children.

Attorneys within the office have certain discreet areas of responsibility. However, all attorneys work on a variety of issues and in a variety of different legal areas in order to ensure that they gain broad knowledge and experience. Assistant County Attorneys work both individually and as part of litigation teams.

Mission Statement

To provide Chesterfield County and its officials and employees with effective legal representation.