The City Attorney is appointed by the City Council to be legal advisor to the City government. The City Attorney’s Office provides legal advice to City Council, Boards and Commissions, the City Manager and City Departments.  The City Attorneys are responsible for drafting ordinances, contracts, deeds, leases, and other legal papers. The office represents the City in civil court to defend the City in actions taken against it and to initiate cases to enforce the City’s laws and actions.  The office is also responsible for handling requests for public records, in compliance with the Freedom of Information Act and for serving as an adjudicator for parking ticket disputes.

Cheran Ivery is a native of Palo Alto, California. She graduated in 1997 from Cornell University with a B.A. in Hotel Administration and received her juris doctorate from the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William & Mary in 2003. She served as a judicial law clerk to the Hon. Frank J. Santoro, of the United States Bankruptcy Court of the Eastern District of Virginia.

Ms. Ivery began her local government career in 2004 with the City of Portsmouth as an Assistant City Attorney and was promoted into successive leadership roles in the organization over the next eleven years. During this time, she specialized in litigation matters, ranging from juvenile and domestic relations cases to complex civil matters where she represented the city in both state and federal court. In 2015, the Portsmouth City Council requested that Ms. Ivery serve as Interim City Attorney, after which time she served as the Sr. Deputy City Attorney until 2018.

From July 2018 to December 2023, Ms. Ivery served as the City Attorney of Hampton, Virginia. In October 2023, Ms. Ivery was announced as the City Attorney of Alexandria, Virginia., effective January 8, 2024. In this role, she is the chief legal counsel for the City and oversees a department of sixteen attorneys, two law clerks, and three professional administrative staff, who advise all city departments, boards, commissions, and certain affiliate entities. As the City Attorney, Ms. Ivery provides counsel to senior city officials on matters of significant strategic importance within many different areas of law and policy. Our organizational chart can be found here. See about our office for more information.

Outside of the office, she is an active volunteer in the community, having served on the Board of the Friends of the Portsmouth Juvenile Court, the Board of Directors of the Portsmouth General Hospital Foundation, and she currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Girl Scout Council of the Colonial Coast and G.I.R.L.S Club of Hampton Roads, a community-based mentorship program for middle and high school-aged girls.

Ms. Ivery is a lover of college basketball, a 49ers fan, is addicted to Orange Theory Fitness, and is a proud Coast Guard wife and mother to three children, Cayla (26), Jayden (20), Camille (7), as well as a Bernedoodle named Tilly.

The City offers two ways to contest a parking citation: 

1. If the citation was issued due to an error on the City's part, as defined by the conditions below, the registered vehicle owner or their designee may request an administrative review by the City’s Parking Adjudication Office within 10 calendar days of the issue date.
2. If you believe the ticket is invalid for some other reason, or disagree with the Parking Adjudication Office’s ruling, you may appeal the citation to Alexandria General District Court.

If you feel a citation was issued due to an administrative error, a dispute claim can be processed on this page [LINK: https://www.alexandriava.gov/ParkingCitations]. 

You may request a record by any means, although it is helpful to put your request in writing. 

• You may submit your request online, or check the status of a request you have submitted online. 
• When submitting your request by mail, please direct it to:
  • Office of the City Attorney
    301 King Street, Suite 1300
    P. O. Box 178
    Alexandria, Virginia 22313
• To make a request via telephone, please call 703.746.3750.
• To submit a request via facsimile, send your request to 703.838.4810.
• To make a request by email: FOIArequests@alexandriava.gov 
• For more information please visit our FOIA page:  https://www.alexandriava.gov/FOIA

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