The Corporation Counsel’s duties include most types of civil law involving the County. The Corporation Counsel does not handle criminal matters, traffic or general ordinance violations. Those areas and the juvenile criminal matters are handled by the District Attorney’s Office. The Corporation Counsel’s Office is only minimally involved with labor and insurance law.

The attorneys do appear in court regularly in the areas of guardianships, mental commitments, juveniles who are abused or in need of services, and collections for the County. The Corporation Counsel’s Office does collect fees for guardian ad litem and public defender costs, which were originally paid by the County. The office also collects fees for the Department of Social Services and the Department of Community Programs including foster care costs. There are other costs to the County that are collected by the Corporation Counsel’s Office such as damage to highway signs, damage to park property or non-payment of bills to Lasata Care Center.

The Corporation Counsel’s Office gives legal advice to Ozaukee County employees, department heads and elected officials of Ozaukee County. The Corporation Counsel’s Office does not advise private individuals, corporations or other governmental agencies. The Corporation Counsel’s Office represents the elected officials and employees of Ozaukee County.

In the area of environmental health and zoning, the office enforces the Zoning Codes and prosecutes septic system violations.

The Corporation Counsel attends committee meetings and prepares documents for court action. The office also provides legal services to county offices by review and preparation of contracts, leases, and other agreements.

In the child support area, the Corporation Counsel’s Office establishes paternity and enforces child support collections. In summary, the Corporation Counsel’s Office is the attorney for Ozaukee County in all matters except criminal, traffic, some insurance and labor matters. The Corporation Counsel’s Office does not represent the private citizens of Ozaukee County. Ozaukee County is considered by law a corporate part of the State of Wisconsin and therefore the term corporation counsel is used in reference to attorneys for the counties.