ORIGIN & FUNCTIONS

OFFICE OF COUNTY ATTORNEY

The County Attorney serves as legal advisor to the County Council, the County Executive, and other officers, departments, agencies, boards, and commissions of Montgomery County Government, and is responsible for all legal affairs of the County's government (County Charter, Art. 2, sec. 213).

Headed by the County Attorney, the Office of County Attorney works through five divisions: Finance and Procurement; Health and Human Services; Human Resources and Appeals; Public Interest Litigation; and Zoning, Land Use, and Economic Development.

PUBLIC DEFENDER

For indigent defendants in Montgomery County, the District Public Defender provides legal representation, including related necessary services and facilities. The District Public Defender assures effective assistance and continuity of counsel to indigent accused taken into custody and indigent defendants in criminal and juvenile proceedings before Maryland courts (Code 1957, Art. 27A, secs. 1-14).

STATE'S ATTORNEY

The office of State's Attorney was first authorized in 1851 (Constitution of 1851, Art. V, secs. 1-5). The State's Attorney prosecutes and defends, on the part of the State, all cases in Montgomery County in which the State may be interested (Code Criminal Procedure Article, secs. 15-101 through 15-109, 15-416).

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