Washington State

Office of the Attorney General

Attorney General

Bob Ferguson

AGO 1997 NO. 7 >

1.Under RCW 35A.12.020, a mayor-council city operation under the optional municipal code may, by charter provision or ordinance, opt either to appoint a city attorney or to procure legal services by contract.2.Where a code city has determined to obtain legal services by contract, the contract for professional services may specify the term of the contract and may define who will have authority to amend or terminate the agreement, provided that the contract is consistent with any charter provisions or ordinances on the subject.3.A city council, in entering into a contract with a law firm to provide legal services for the city, may not require that the city council exclusively direct how legal services will be provided; the mayor and other administrative city offices are entitled to obtain legal services as needed for the performances of their duties. 

AGO 1984 NO. 13 >

A lawyer (including a retired former judge) who does not otherwise hold a judicial office but who has been appointed to serve as a judge pro tem of a superior court pursuant to RCW 2.08.180, as a judge pro tem of the court of appeals pursuant to RCW 2.06.150, or as a justice pro tem of the State Supreme Court pursuant to Wash. Const., Art. IV, § 2(a) is not thereby authorized to solemnize marriages under RCW 26.04.050.

AGO 1965 NO. 44 >

(1) Under § 6, subsection (3), chapter 150, Laws of 1965, Ex. Sess. (Substitute Senate Bill No. 1) which requires a public official or candidate to report the names of persons, corporations, firms, partnerships or other business associations from whom he receives compensation exceeding a certain specified amount, a legislator who is an attorney engaged in the private practice of law is required to report the name of his firm but is not required to report the names of his individual clients since a lawyer is not an "employee" of a client in the ordinary attorney-client relationship. (2) The first report which must be filed by incumbent public officials subject to the provisions of § 6, chapter 150, Laws of 1965, Ex. Sess. (Substitute Senate Bill No. 1) will cover the period August 6, 1965, through December 31, 1965, since the new act must be construed prospectively.