City Attorney

The City Attorney's Office is located on the third floor of City Hall. The City Attorney is appointed by City Council.

Responsibilities

City Attorney oversees the legal affairs of the City. On a daily basis the City Attorney participates in the following activities:

• Serves as legal counsel to the City Council, staff, boards, commissions and committees of the City.
• Drafts or supervises drafting of ordinances and resolutions for Council, explains the foregoing to Council and answers questions relating thereto.
• Attends meetings of Council and City boards and commissions and renders immediate legal advice.
• Serves as legislative liaison for City with State and Federal governments.
• Drafts or supervises the drafting of all contracts, deeds, leases, releases, franchises and other legal documents on behalf of the City.
• Represents the City in legal matters, brings suits necessary to be instituted by the City and defends the City in suits brought against it, and handles appellate litigation.
• Decides major legal questions in litigation, claims, leases and contracts, land titles and related legal matters.
• Prepares the departmental budget and oversees expenditures.
• Prepares and supervises the preparation of formal legal opinions upon request of Council members and the administration.
• Defends City employees in action brought against them for conduct while in the line of duty.
• Supervises and administers land transactions.

About our Attorney

Holt Moore, originally from the foothills of western North Carolina, began practicing law in 1996. He is licensed in North Carolina and Kentucky, and has been admitted to practice in all North Carolina trial courts and the US District Court for the Eastern District of NC. After a number of years in private practice, in 2000 he became the Assistant New Hanover County Attorney, where he oversaw the litigation and land use matters. Holt opened his own practice in 2007, and served, by contract, as the Town Attorney for Carolina Shores, the Land Use Attorney for Kure Beach and several other small communities on an as-needed basis. He began as Lumberton City Attorney in early 2014. Holt has served as a Superior Court Mediator, and was on the Board of the NC Municipal Attorneys’ Association. He is active in church and civic causes in the Lumberton area.