Dawn A. McIntosh

City Attorney

Background and Experience

Dawn McIntosh was elected Long Beach City Attorney on June 7, 2022. City Attorney Dawn McIntosh has a broad breadth of legal experience for both public entities and in private practice, where she represented cities and governmental agencies. Throughout her career, Ms. McIntosh handled many litigation matters in state and federal courts, including appeals.  She also has extensive experience advising municipalities on environmental, land use, water rights, oil and gas, Tidelands and constitutional issues, myriad regulatory issues, Brown Act and Public Records Act compliance, and other transactional matters. In 2016, Ms. McIntosh was named one of the top women Attorneys in California.

Ms. McIntosh joined the City of Long Beach in 2016, where she initially handled a wide variety of legal issues for the Port of Long Beach, but then went on to advise many other City departments on a multitude of legal issues.   In July of 2021, Ms. McIntosh was promoted to Assistant City Attorney, overseeing the Harbor and Litigation divisions of the office.

The City Attorney's Office is comprised of five divisions: Departmental Counsel, Litigation, Harbor, Workers' Compensation, and Administrative, and has an operating budget of approximately 9.8 million dollars for fiscal year 2022. The office is the sole and exclusive legal advisor of the City, City Council and all City commissions, committees, officers and employees. The City Attorney’s Office consists of 55 employees, including 25 attorneys. It is charged with handling a multitude of complex municipal legal responsibilities.

Professional Affiliations

Ms. McIntosh is admitted to practice in California and before the United States District Courts for the Central District, the Eastern District and the Northern District, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal and the United States Supreme Court. Ms. McIntosh is a member of the California State Bar Association and the Long Beach Bar Association. Ms. McIntosh is also a member of the City Attorney Association of Los Angeles County and Long Beach Rotary and is on the Board of Directors for Leadership Long Beach.

Education

Ms. McIntosh received her law degree from the University of California, Davis, Martin Luther King Jr. School of Law and received her Bachelor of Science degree in Marine Biology, with a minor in Geology, from the University of Maryland, College Park.