City Attorney

The City Attorney, Douglas L. Guynn, is generally responsible for the management, charge and control of all legal business of the City and is adviser to the mayor, council, city manager and various boards and departments of the city. Mr. Guynn also serves as general counsel to the Staunton School Board. As City Attorney, Mr. Guynn regularly monitors and guides legal work performed by outside legal counsel, including legal counsel retained by the City's legal risk management program. The City Attorney does not provide advice to individual city citizens and does not handle criminal proceedings, although the City Attorney does advise on criminal law facets of City operations, as needed, including those related to law enforcement. The Commonwealth Attorney, a separate official elected directly by Staunton citizens, is responsible for prosecuting criminal matters.

Mr. Guynn also is privately affiliated with the law firm of BotkinRose, PLC. In this separate capacity, he does general and special counsel work for various Virginia school boards and other clients, such as Virginia institutions of higher education. He is a frequent speaker on a wide array of education law issues for both clients and for professional groups, such as the Virginia School Boards Association. He also has represented the Virginia School Boards Association before the Virginia Supreme Court. Mr. Guynn has served as a member of the Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission and as a member of the Virginia State Council of Higher Education. He is a graduate of Virginia Tech (B.S. Finance, with distinction) and the University of Virginia School of Law (J.D.) where he served on the editiorial board of the Virginia Journal of International Law.

Mr. Guynn accepted Council's appointment as City Attorney as part of his ongoing public and civic service. He has been active over the years in serving the broader regional community that comprises the central Shenandoah Valley, including service on the board of the Community Foundation as well as on the board of the Valley Alliance for Education, which he helped to establish, and the Arts Council of the Valley. He currently serves as a member of the board of directors of the Shenandoah Valley Educational Television Corporation (WVPT). He is a Fellow of the Virginia and American Bar Foundations and a Permanent Member of the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. He also recently assumed the role as Chairman of the Virginia State Bar's Judicial Nominations Committee.

The City Attorney's office includes a paralegal, Linda L. Little. Ms. Little joined the office in December of 2006. She previously worked for a private law firm and for the Virginia state court system. She brings her collective experience of over 20 years in the legal field to the office of the City Attorney and supports the office work on a wide variety of matters. Ms. Little works closely with city departmental directors and with the office of the division superintendent of the Staunton Public Schools.

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