=====LEGAL INSTITUTIONS=====


=====Criminal Prosecution=====
Violators of city ordinances and state criminal code in the city limits of Gotham are prosecuted by the [[District Attorney for Gotham|District Attorney for Gotham]] who is a tool of the mayor.  The current DA is [[Chance Elliot|Chance Elliot]] a relative of the [[the_elliots|The Elliot Family]].  The City Courthouse Security is handled by the [[police|police department]].   There are 6 [[City Judges|City Judges]] who rotate between criminal and civil cases.  In rare cases, the mayor may be asked to provide an alternate special prosecutor from Trenton to provide a level of "impartiality", usually someone with impeccable credentials like [[Nathan Nightly]].

Violators of Federal Law are investigated by the [[FBI Office|FBI Office]] and occasionally by the [[Federal Marshals|Federal Marshals]] both of whom are located in the small [[Gotham Federal Courthouse|federal courthouse]].  In this period of time, offenses must be clearly interstate in nature or involve federal property before the federal law enforcement is permitted to be involved.   [[Special Agent Randal Coopersmith|Special Agent Randal Coopersmith]] is in charge of the small FBI office.   [[Senior Deputy Marshal Paul Mangano|Senior Deputy Marshal Paul Mangano]] is in charge of the marshals, who mainly guard the courthouse and transport prisoners, but sometimes track federal fugitives.  A circuit judge holds federal trials every few months at the Gotham federal courthouse, prosecuted by a deputy US Attorney from the Trenton office.  Most federal offenders waive their right to be tried in the district they offended and are quickly moved to Trenton.

=====Law Firms=====
There are many law firms in the city, handling criminal defense, business contracts and civil suits.  They often employ [[private_security_and_investigations|Private Detectives]] of various sort to do their leg work.

  * [[Baker and Lee|Baker and Lee]] is the most respected firm in town and refuses to knowingly work for the criminal underworld.
  * [[Wilson, Polaski and Associates|Wilson, Polaski and Associates]] was mostly involved in criminal defense for the highest bidder and was up to its neck in corruption, until its destruction in June 1934.
  * [[Remo Universal|Remo Universal]] is a strange firm that rolls its considerable profits from bankruptcy practice into pro bono defense for the poor.
  * [[Stuart Barratry & Associates]] is an overly officious law firm famous for instigating and encouraging prosecution of groundless litigation and regularly bring persistent litigation against large moneyed interests for the purposes of profit or harassment.