The Legal Services Department consists of a town attorney and three assistant town attorneys.
Town Attorney Richard H. Saxl, who has a practice in Westport, and three assistant town attorneys are legal advisors of, and counsel and attorneys for, the town and all town departments and town officials. They provide legal services in matters relating to the town's interests and the official duties and powers of town officials except for matters covered by insurance or under the purview of the Board of Education.
Saxl and assistant town attorneys prepare and review contracts, furnish written legal opinions, appear for the town in litigation and actions brought against the town, and settle suits involving claims for money against the town at the direction of the Board of Selectmen or, in the case of land-use appeals, by conferring with the appropriate board or commission.
The Legal Services Department's budget in 2009-10 is $512,700.
The town attorney does not maintain an office in a Fairfield government building. An assistant town attorney has an office in Old Town Hall, 611 Old Post Road.