Governmental Law

Macomb County, Michigan Municipal and School Attorneys — Serving Southeast Michigan and Beyond for Over 50 Years

For more than 50 years, the attorneys at the Sterling Heights law firm of O'Reilly Rancilio have advised and represented municipalities and school districts in the tri-county area of southeast Michigan and beyond. In addition to providing guidance, we advise on day-to-day municipal and school law matters as general counsel, we also serve as consultants on special legal issues, provide defense counsel when the public body or its officials are sued, draft and prosecute local ordinance violations, provide expertise in the areas of planning and zoning, and address all of the other legal needs of our municipal and school district clients.

Our government law attorneys serve as general counsel to the city of Sterling Heights, the city of Fraser, the city of Harper Woods, Richmond Township, the Warren Consolidated Schools and the Richmond Community Schools; and we are the local ordinance prosecutors for the city of Grosse Pointe Shores and the Village of Armada. Our attorneys also serve as special counsel to the city of Dearborn Heights and the Southgate Community Schools.

Our attorneys also have unique expertise representing the Macomb County Charter Commission, downtown development authorities, tax increment financing districts, corridor improvement authorities, and civil service commissions. We have successfully represented school districts against consolidation petitions filed by residents who want to leave the district. We are at the forefront of open carry issues and marijuana regulations. We have developed innovative ordinances to license and govern massage establishments, body art facilities, pawn establishments, hotels and motels, and secondhand merchants. We developed fireworks regulations to supplement the state laws. We have expertise in municipal ethics and as special investigators for municipal and school district work environment claims. We have also developed the only dangerous dog ordinance of its kind, with an emphasis on owner responsibility and conditions for keeping potentially dangerous dogs after an incident occurs.

Our municipal practice group welcomes inquiries from local governments and school districts throughout Michigan.