Organization The Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia (OAG) is statutorily responsible for conducting the legal business of the District of Columbia government, including all lawsuits initiated by or against it. Within OAG, there are various divisions that handle thousands of legal matters; diverse civil and criminal litigation in the local and federal courts; affirmative litigation in the areas of tax fraud, welfare fraud, and consumer protection; and that provide legal advice and opinions for executive branch agencies and officials.  These divisions are categorized as follows:  the Appellate Division, Child Support Enforcement Division, Civil Litigation Division, Commercial Division, Family Services Division, Immediate Office, Legal Counsel Division, Public Safety Division, and Support Services Division. Appellate Division The Appellate Division handles appeals and related motions in the DC Court of Appeals, United States Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the United States. The appeals cover a wide variety of civil, criminal, and administrative cases and are from trial courts and from more than 50 agencies under the DC Administrative Procedures Act. Child Support Enforcement Division The Child Support Enforcement Division operates the District's federally- funded child support program. The Division assists families by locating non-custodial parents, establishing paternity, establishing child support and medical support orders in the Family Court, and enforcing these orders through a variety of judicial and administrative means. The Division handles local and interstate matters, and currently provides services to families in more than 100,000 cases. The Division works with all custodial parents who request services, helping families who receive public benefits to achieve self-sufficiency, and enhancing the economic well-being of District children. Civil Litigation Division The Civil Litigation Division consists of two Equity Sections, four General Litigation Sections, and the Personnel & Labor Relations Section. The Equity Sections handle major case litigation involving class actions, DC Public Schools, construction contract litigation, wrongful death cases, and agency litigation. The General Litigation Sections represent the District, its officials and its employees in civil matters.  These sections also handle contingent liability cases in the areas of torts, civil rights, labor and employment law, contracts, and corrections. The Personnel and Labor Relations Section litigates employee termination and adverse personnel actions, reduction-in-force (RIF) actions, disability compensation and employee discrimination actions, and MPD labor litigation. Commercial Division The Commercial Division is comprised of five sections: The Real Estate Section represents District agency clients in matters relating to acquisition, disposition, development, financing, and management of real estate.  The Section’s work is primarily transactional, with an emphasis on commercial leasing and public development and public-private joint development projects.  The Section also files in Superior Court on behalf of the District’s eminent domain actions to acquire real property for public purposes and judicial foreclosure actions to enforce municipal liens levied against real property in the District. The Procurement Section provides legal services regarding the District’s acquisition of goods and services.  This includes advice to the District’s contracting officials concerning procedural questions arising during the procurement process, review of all proposed District contracts in excess of one million dollars prior to submission to the Council, review of solicitations that will result in a contract in excess of one million dollars, and representation of District agencies in bid protests before the Contract Appeals Board. The Economic Development Section acts as counsel to the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD).  All of its activities are designed to assist the District’s business services and economic development agencies in the creation of a capital tax base with its concomitant employment and homeownership opportunities for the District residents. This Section’s primary mission is to structure deals, review, prepare, and approve the legal transactional documents generated by the lease, sale, acquisition, loan, or grant transactions engendered by the economic and housing development activities and community and neighborhood development projects in the District. The Land Use & Public Works Section helps District agencies make informed land use decisions. Its attorneys advise the Zoning Commission and Board of Zoning Adjustment during their proceedings and review or draft their orders. Land Use & Public Works attorneys also review rules and statutes that concern the use of public space and motor vehicles. The Tax/Bankruptcy/Finance Section represents the Office of Tax & Revenue (OTR) in defending real property and other tax assessment appeals filed in the Superior Court, as well as other challenges to the District’s tax assessment and collection process. The Office also provides legal advice to OTR on a regular basis with respect to a wide variety of tax issues. Section attorneys appear in Bankruptcy Court representing affected District agencies and perform a variety of bankruptcy-related functions in the course of its representation of the affected agency.  Section attorneys serve as issuer’s counsel on all District borrowings, as well as in revenue bond issuances on behalf of other borrowers, reviewing all documents in the transaction, doing due diligence, and preparing the AG’s Opinions. Family Services Division The Family Services Division focuses on children needing protection, abused and exploited adults, and adults suffering from mental illness or mental retardation. The goals of the Division are to protect and serve the vulnerable members of the District of Columbia’s population. The Division initiates legal proceedings – including petitions for neglect, guardianship, commitment, and civil protection – to ensure the safety of and to provide services for abused and neglected children, exploited and abused adults, the mentally ill, and the developmentally disabled. This division consists of the following sections: The Abuse & Neglect Sections represent the District in child abuse and neglect matters. The Domestic Violence Section represents victims of intra-family domestic violence in DC Superior Court by obtaining civil protection orders and by prosecuting related contempt of court matters. The Mental Health Section handles legal matters before the Commission on Mental Health and prosecutes civil commitment matters as well as handling all civil litigation and appeals involving the Commission. Immediate Office The Immediate Office develops legal policies for OAG and the District of Columbia. The Attorney General heads the Immediate Office, aided by the Chief Deputy Attorney General and the Chief of Staff. The Immediate Office also provides comprehensive professional and technical support to the entire office and other District of Columbia agencies, primarily through attorneys specializing in various areas of the law. The Deputy Attorney General for Agencies and Legislative Affairs supervises subordinate agency counsel and reviews proposed legislative bills to determine how the bills may affect OAG. The Deputy Attorney General for Professional Development oversees a staff responsible for hiring and training attorneys, interns, and other professional staff in OAG. The Deputy Attorney General for Labor Relations serves as the principal contact for all labor-management issues including negotiation of OAG collective bargaining agreements, labor-management partnership efforts, and grievance resolution. The Deputy Attorney General for Labor Relations also serves as liaison with OAG’s Equal Employment Opportunity Diversity and Advisory Committee and Equal Employment Opportunity Officers Committee and prepares decisions of the Attorney General in appeals of performance evaluations, proposed disciplinary actions and final disciplinary actions. The Deputy Attorney General for Family Law advises the Attorney General on issues related to families and children, and helps establish and implement office policy on familial issues. The Deputy Attorney General for Family Law also coordinates the various sections of OAG involving families and children (including child support, juvenile prosecutions, domestic violence, and child protection) so that the positions advocated by OAG are consistent across division lines. The Freedom of Information Act Officer provides training and advice to agency Freedom of Information Act Officers and agency heads, and also responds to requests for information to OAG from the general public. The Public Information Officer interacts with members of the media and the general public on behalf of OAG to assist the public in understanding the duties that OAG performs in upholding and enforcing the laws of the District of Columbia. The Ethics Counselor is the primary District of Columbia government ethics advisor who provides training to senior government officials and agency ethics counselors on the proper standards of conduct for District of Columbia employees.   Legal Counsel Division The Legal Counsel Division provides advice, opinions, drafting, and other assistance on legal issues, proposed inter- and intra- governmental agreements, legislation, rulemaking, orders, and citizen referenda, to the Mayor's Office, Departments, and other agency heads, the Council of the District of Columbia, and, on occasion, the DC Courts. The Division also provides assistance to persons outside the government who seek information about local laws. Public Safety Division The Public Safety Division takes appropriate legal action on behalf of the District of Columbia to protect the public from various forms of harm.  Whether through civil or criminal prosecution to enforce the District’s laws, the Division pursues legal claims to protect the public and to seek restitution, where applicable, for those who have been harmed. This division consists of five sections. The Juvenile Section handles all juvenile prosecutions in the District of Columbia. These prosecutions are brought in the Family Court of the District of Columbia Superior Court.  The Neighborhood and Victim Services Section consists of two related units: The Neighborhood Services Initiative (NSI) Unit and the Victims Assistance Unit (VAU).  The NSI staff is responsible for providing legal advice and counsel to each of the Core Teams covering all eight Wards in the District of Columbia.  While the focus of NSI is primarily upon the high crime areas of the city, the objective is to work closely with all government agencies to insure the safety and enjoyment of all neighborhoods for residents, visitors, and businesses in the District of Columbia. The VAU is designed to offer assistance and referrals to victims and witnesses of juvenile crime. The Civil Enforcement Section conducts a wide range of affirmative civil and administrative litigation on behalf of the District of Columbia, including the enforcement of the District’s laws and regulations relating to occupational and professional licenses, local, small and disadvantaged business licenses, building and zoning permits, and alcoholic beverage control (ABC) licenses. The Criminal Section prosecutes adults who commit certain types of offenses within the District of Columbia. These offenses include all traffic offenses, quality of life offenses, fraud of government agencies, and miscellaneous offenses designated by the DC Council. The Consumer and Trade Protection Section investigates and prosecutes violations of the District’s consumer protection and antitrust laws, obtaining court injunctions against unlawful business practices as well as monetary compensation for consumers. Support Services Division The Support Services Division is comprised of five sections, which include the Finance Office, the Human Resources Section, Information Technology and Library Services, the Investigations Section, and the Operations Section. Together these sections provide administrative management and support for the entire Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia.