Working Groups

This working group is only available to IMLA’s Municipal Members.

The Affirmative Litigation group is a forum for members to share information about ongoing and possible future local government  affirmative litigation activity. Current and past subjects include:

• pharmaceutical industry anticompetitive and “patent thicket” activity
• financial industry collusion and manipulation of interest rates
• chemical industry responsibility for PFAS and other environmental injury
• opioid industry responsibility for treatment and abatement costs
• fire apparatus antitrust pricing and delivery delays
• lead pipe and PVC pipe injury
• ghost gun industry consumer deception and illegal sales
• automobile anti-lock deficiencies
• energy industry responsibility for climate change impacts
• vaping industry responsibility for injury and addiction

Our plan is to host calls focusing on litigation areas of greatest interest to participants and to redistribute documents and filings useful in a local government’s assessment of given actions

This group is intended to act as a vehicle for discussion of legal and policy issues associated with the legal representation of airports.

This group is intended for Canadian municipal lawyers as a forum to raise issues and dialogue, covering everything from law office/benchmarking to ethical dilemmas faced, to legal issues. Members are encouraged to raise questions and share ideas in an environment that promotes sharing amongst those who have practical similarities in their roles.

A space for municipal attorneys and legal professionals serving capital cities to connect, share experiences, and discuss the unique legal and operational challenges facing capital communities.

This is a forum for chief legal officers to share issues around law office management, staffing, budgets, and other pressing issues faced by the attorneys managing law offices. This list is intended to only be used by chief legal officers or top deputies who manage law offices.

This group is for those that have general questions about local government practice. This is also a good forum for those that are generalists to join.

The discussion will focus on legal and practical issues for local government attorneys associated with promoting civility in local government.

By way of background, there is a feeling, if not a reality, that civility, public discourse, and interactions we all have with one another are becoming more negative by the day. This, we find, is true in local government as well. NLC released a report in 2021 highlighting the existence of the issue on a national scale (https://www.nlc.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/On-the-Frontlines-of-Todays-Cities-1.pdf).

The group has regular monthly calls designed for code enforcement or the development of laws and practices intended to resolve problems within a community.

This working group focuses on construction law and procurement issues for local governments.

This group is intended for discussion of those issues unique to country governance. The group meets via zoom to discuss issues specific to counties including elections, jail administration, child protective services, etc. The group also talks about issues that are relevant to all local governments like employment law, land use, law office management and the like.

This group is utilized to provide resources to IMLA members in the wake of a disaster. We keep a comprehensive database of disaster resources from local governments all around the country. We have used the list in response to fires, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, pandemic and more.

This group is intended to serve as a vehicle for discussion and resources of legal and policy issues associated with diversity, equity, and inclusion.  Issues include those related to federal funding, employment, and the impacts of agency changes as they apply to local governments.

This group deals with the ever-evolving legal world of evidence, litigation holds, spoliation, privacy, data protection, and more. Join this group to see how to best protect and preserve your office’s data.

While most local government attorneys are appointed, some are elected by their constituents.  Being an elected local government attorney presents unique challenges.  This working group will provide a forum for elected local government attorneys to collaborate on common issues unique to their situation.

Members of this group focus on employment law issues.

Members of this group discuss public health, building codes and enforcement, municipal water problems and environmental protection, climate change, and solid and hazardous waste management.

The Ethics group is intended to provide members with an opportunity to share questions and issues involving the Rules of Professional Conduct or the development and application of state and local ethics laws. Members are encouraged to share ideas for improving state and local regulations of ethical conduct and to discuss concerns about the Rules of Professional Conduct and interpretations of those Rules to governmental lawyers and their practices whether in-house or outside counsel.  Members may also use the forum to inquire about particular ethics questions though they are also encouraged to seek the advise of their state bar ethics committee for any potential conflicts or ethical issues that may arise.

​IMLA holds regular calls regarding legal issues associated with federal funding. Issues include discussions of agency action, grant conditions and terminations, as well as legal challenges to these actions.​

The Federal Litigation group provides a vehicle to share ideas about civil rights and other litigation, experts, causes of action and defenses. The group offers an opportunity to discuss emerging trends in litigation, new cases and ways in which to best defend the local government client and its officers.

This group is intended as a vehicle for attorneys who advise Local Government Fire Services to communicate and share ideas and solutions to issues that arise in representing those agencies.

This group seeks offer an opportunity for local government attorneys to discuss issues involving homelessness and solutions to the problems communities face in addressing those issues.

This working group facilitates the dissemination of information related to federal immigration matters that impact local governments. This group meets regularly via zoom and has a dedicated group to allow members to communicate with one another and share information about federal immigration matters that impact local governments.

This group seeks to offer an opportunity for local government attorneys to discuss issues involving land use and solutions to the problems communities face in addressing those issues.

This group reports on the legal advocacy activities of IMLA and the Local Government Legal Center (LGLC). It provides members an opportunity to comment on whether IMLA should join a case as an amicus, creates a forum for discussion of cases important to local governments and to inform IMLA and LGLC in their efforts to represent the interests of local governments. It is intended for thoughtful comment and analysis. IMLA also posts summaries of Supreme Court cases to this list.

This group was created to allow new lawyers (in age and/or experience) to communicate with one another. Should you have any questions or issues you’d like to share with your fellow colleagues, posting it will allow all the members of this group to view and respond. This list aids in the work of our New Lawyers committee.

This group discusses alternatives to policing that local governments are exploring. A number of local governments have launched programs intended to provide unarmed crisis responders. Because this is a new approach, the legal issues our members are encountering are also novel. This group allows members to collectively brainstorm issues surrounding alternatives to policing.

This group is designed for attorneys assigned to advise police departments and serves as a platform for colleagues to share information, ideas, and solutions to the critical issues affecting police agencies and the performance of their duties. The goal is to foster collaboration within this working group by holding regular meetings and serving as a resource for all members on the topic.

This group was formed to assist local government attorneys with professional sports teams in their jurisdictions. The group provides resources to local government attorneys working in this area, whether you are actively negotiating with a sports team or looking for more of a high-level overview of issues in this area.

This group is intended to provide members with a forum to identify and address issues of particular interest to smaller and/or rural communities. All local government lawyers are invited to join in and contribute to zoom meetings, and to attend the group’s presentations and functions at IMLA’s conferences and seminars.

This group seeks to serve counsel to state leagues and the attorneys who represent state associations of municipal or county attorneys.

This group will have municipal attorneys from across the country share knowledge, best practices, and practical solutions to the complex legal challenges posed by emerging technologies. The working group will focus on a broad range of technology-related issues that affect cities, counties, and local agencies, including cybersecurity, AI, data governance and protection, public records and privacy, technology procurement, and digital accessibility and ethics. Members will meet virtually to discuss recent developments, exchange insights on pressing legal and policy questions, and hear from guest experts in law, government, and technology.

This group will also be used to facilitate ongoing dialogue among members, as well as a shared repository of sample policies, guidance documents, ordinances, and legal memoranda that municipal attorneys can adapt to their own jurisdictions. The repository will serve as a living library of practical resources addressing topics such as incident response plans, acceptable use policies, data and AI governance frameworks, privacy and cybersecurity standards for public systems and ethical uses and deployment of technology.

This group deals with interactions between local governments and the universities and colleges within those jurisdictions and includes discussion of issues like housing, rental properties, alcohol abuse and rowdies; as well as other problems and solutions.