Request for Conversation – LSSC's City Attorney Project

Summary

The Local Solutions Support Center (LSSC) has long engaged with city attorneys in the fight against the abuse of state preemption, and, at the critical juncture we find ourselves in, LSSC is seeking to renew and deepen this aspect of our work. Through this Request for Conversation, LSSC seeks a dynamic project manager to oversee a six-month outreach and planning process, ideally beginning in July 2025, to develop a plan for re-engaging with city attorneys.

About LSSC and Our Team

LSSC is a national hub committed to creating a more equitable and just society by dismantling systems of oppression that exclude and harm BIPOC, LGBTQ people, women, immigrants, and workers in low-wage industries. Truly building a more equitable and just society means that every community should have the authority and autonomy to advance equitable policies and meet the most urgent needs of their residents, but too many states are standing in the way through the abuse of their power to preempt local policies. LSSC is committed to supporting advocates and communities fighting back by both sharing best practices and supporting locally led strategies that center local expertise and lived experience.

The increased abuse of preemption has created a demand for cross-movement collaboration through broad and diverse state coalitions, as well as the development and deployment of innovative strategies to educate and engage grassroots activists, advocates, local and state elected officials, and others. To meet these needs, LSSC provides deep coalition development support, helping advocates align on shared goals, and craft and execute effective educational campaign strategies. Additionally, LSSC has helped raise the profile of preemption and its consequences, educated and connected advocates, elected officials and city attorneys, worked with the legal community to file challenges and amicus briefs, changed the language and messaging used to define state interference and make the case for local democracy, and helped build cross-issue coalitions that have worked collaboratively at the grassroots level to counter or repeal preemption.

About LSSC’s City Attorney Partnerships

City attorneys and other counsel representing local governments serve as critical points of leverage in resisting abusive preemption, guiding responses to state legislation, crafting local ordinances to minimize and manage preemption risks, and challenging state preemption through litigation. Since its inception, LSSC has worked with city attorneys across the country, through public education and the ongoing provision of legal technical assistance, including amicus and related support for litigation efforts.

At the juncture that we find ourselves, however, with the abuse of state preemption significantly more salient in an increasingly polarized moment and the need for long-term structural reform ever more urgent, LSSC proposes to reimagine and deepen our direct engagement with city attorneys. City attorneys will be on the front lines of multiple crises in the years ahead that threaten local autonomy and democracy, and now is the time to reimagine how to engage.

In particular, LSSC is considering returning to in-person public education and networking, with an emphasis on how city attorneys can be proactive in a new environment for state preemption. This could involve new regional or topic-specific convenings, re-engaging with forums that gather city attorneys, and other means of public education, such as a renewed emphasis on webinars and continuing legal education. The purpose of these gatherings would be to foster a renewed sense of common purpose among city attorneys on the front lines, tap into the experience of a broader network of partners engaged in combating abusive preemption to share legal and other strategies, and elevate creative new approaches for emerging challenges.

Moreover, we have heard from our partners on the ground, both in terms of local elected officials as well as community and policy organizations, that there is a need to foster the relationship between local elected officials and city attorneys around how to be collaborative problem solvers. We can envision gatherings of community partners, organizations, elected officials, and city attorneys that grapple with dilemmas of representation, bringing together stakeholders on all sides of the dilemma and developing tools and approaches to address the challenge.

As a hub serving the preemption ecosystem, our frontline partners and impacted community members inform our strategies and plans. Therefore, before we design a new project, we undertake a rigorous stakeholder engagement process to ensure we understand the needs, priorities, and realities facing our partners. It is through this intentional relationship building that we deploy impactful, equity-focused solutions that best serve our ecosystem partners.

What We Are Looking For

LSSC is seeking a City Attorney Consultant to conduct targeted outreach and develop a plan for re-engaging city attorneys moving forward. As a hub, LSSC does not design programs in a vacuum; we lean on the expertise and perspectives of our partners across the preemption ecosystem and the needs and priorities of those most impacted by abusive preemption. Among the questions we need to explore are:

  • What do our partners need from city attorneys now, and how is LSSC best positioned to meet those needs?

  • What do city attorneys need from LSSC and our partners to strongly advocate for local authority in their jurisdictions? How can we best connect with and engage with city attorneys?

  • What priorities, considerations, and limitations do city attorneys have that LSSC needs to incorporate into or address in our work?

  • In conducting outreach with city attorneys and key partners in the preemption ecosystem, the City Attorney Consultant will explore how LSSC can best approach meeting a diverse set of needs, what should be the priority activities in engaging city attorneys, and how can we build sustainably?

Scope of Work

The City Attorney Consultant will provide outreach and planning services to LSSC, including:

  • Working with LSSC to identify key stakeholders and prioritize outreach to city attorneys and partners in the preemption ecosystem representing a diversity of identities, geographies, and legislative contexts;

  • -Synthesizing feedback and developing a plan for 2026 for LSSC to re-engage city attorneys in a meaningful and sustainable way, including short- and long-term priorities, recommendations for how best to structure and scale the project, and identifying funding needs.

Core Competencies

The City Attorney Consultant should possess the following skills and experience:

  • Demonstrate a passion for and commitment to cross-movement work to combat the abuse of preemption, strengthen local democracy, and reform home rule;

  • Understand the connection between the current misuse of state preemption and the systemic oppression of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), women, LGBTQ people, immigrants, and workers in low-wage industries;

  • The ability to engage and build partnerships with a diverse set of stakeholders, evaluating and appropriately synthesizing a broad array of feedback;

  • Experience working with a remote team of consultants responsible for managing their portfolios;

  • The ability to independently manage a project timeline, including reporting on progress to date and communicating when timelines or deliverables need adjustment;

  • Exceptional writing skills;

  • Vision, creativity, and planning; and

  • The flexibility, humor, and humility to thrive in a fast-paced remote environment with a constellation of fellow consultants and partner organizations.

Direct legal experience is not required for the City Attorney Consultant, but it will be important for the consultant to have an understanding of and appreciation for the distinctive role that city attorneys play and the dynamics involved in partners in the preemption ecosystem working with city attorneys, particularly where priorities may not fully align.

Contract Terms

The City Attorney Consultant will be an independent contractor and will execute a contract with LSSC’s fiscal sponsor, ideally to start on July 1, and to continue through the end of calendar year 2025, with the goal of finalizing a plan in sufficient time to be a part of LSSC’s year-end planning process, which generally takes place in December.

The contract for the City Attorney Consultant is a $5,000 monthly retainer for a six-month period, through the end of calendar year 2025, to be invoiced monthly, with the possibility of continuation in implementing the city attorney project moving forward.

We encourage individuals and firms led by BIPOC people, women, LGBTQ+ folks, and immigrants to indicate their interest. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, national origin, age, marital, and/or veteran status or any other characteristic or activity protected by federal, state, or local law.

Interested? Let’s talk!

Interested independent contractors or consulting firms are encouraged to reach out to lssc@supportdemocracy.org by Monday, June 9th, 2025, to schedule an initial conversation.

Adam Polaski