The Civil Division provides legal counsel to all Pierce County elected officials, including the County Council, County Executive, the Superior and District Courts, executive department heads and numerous County agencies and departments. Serving in its role as an in-house law firm for the County, the Civil Division works closely with its clients in solving a wide range of legal problems by issuing formal written opinions and memoranda, providing day to day legal advice and handling civil litigation to which Pierce County is a party, whether as plaintiff or defendant. In regard to litigation, the majority of cases handled by the Civil Division take place at the Pierce County Superior Court level, but the Division is also active in other courts, both federal and state, as well as before various state, local and administrative bodies.

The Civil Division emphasizes early stage legal consultation with its clients as a preventative strategy to head off potential litigation. That strategy, combined with a determined and aggressive defense of lawsuits filed against Pierce County, has proven to be a successful deterrent in the County's favor.

The range in types of legal services includes such diverse areas as:

• Tort liability
• Public disclosure
• Labor, personnel and employment law
• Contracts and purchasing
• Human services
• Surface water management
• Utilities
• Taxation and bankruptcy
• Laws against discrimination
• Condemnation
• Public works construction
• Parks and recreation
• Indian law
• Law enforcement matters
• Code enforcement
• Civil commitment
• Election law
• Business licensing
• Solid waste management
• Land use and growth management
• Environmental law