Chris W. Cotterill, former chief of staff and corporation counsel for the City of Indianapolis under Mayor Gregory A. Ballard, joined Faegre Baker Daniels LLP as a partner on the government team. Cotterill will practice from the firm’s downtown Indianapolis office.
The addition of both Cotterill and former Robertsville Mayor Jonathan D. Weinzapfel in April significantly increases the firm’s breadth and depth of state and local government, public finance and economic development expertise. Cotterill will use his experience managing state and city government operations and advising state and local government leaders to assist businesses, nonprofits and government clients in their interactions with state and local executives and legislative and regulatory bodies. Cotterill will also advise clients on complex procurements, the development of public-private partnerships and public financing transactions.
“In Governor Daniels’ and Mayor Ballard’s administrations, I have been blessed to work alongside many can-do, positive, results-focused professionals. I found that same spirit and drive at Faegre Baker Daniels, and I am very excited to join this team,” Cotterill said. “I look forward to assisting government officials in their efforts to make more efficient use of taxpayer dollars and to improve outcomes for their constituents. And, we can help private clients more cost-effectively interact with government and more profitably deliver value to public and private sector customers.”
In two and a half years as Mayor Ballard’s chief of staff, Cotterill ensured that the mayor delivered three balanced budgets without tax increases or deficit spending, and he served as lead negotiator on the City’s $1.9 billion sale of water and wastewater utilities to Citizens Energy Group, stewarding the proposal through the City-County Council, the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission and other state agencies. That transaction yielded more than $400 million for investment in infrastructure projects and is projected to make utility rates 25 percent lower than they otherwise would have been. Cotterill also led the mayor’s efforts to enact local government reforms, known as Unigov 2.0, and served on the executive committees of the Super Bowl XLVI Host Committee and the Indianapolis Convention and Visitors Association.
Prior to serving as Mayor Ballard’s chief of staff, Cotterill was corporation counsel for the City of Indianapolis and Marion County for two years, where he shifted resources to eliminate discrimination claim backlogs; stepped up prosecution of civil code violations; and led the mayor’s efforts to overhaul ethics requirements for city and county appointees, employees and elected officials.
Cotterill served in Indiana state government for three years as Director of IN.gov and general counsel for the Indiana Office of Technology, where, in addition to managing the state website which transacted more than $150 million annually, Cotterill spearheaded the consolidation of state IT positions and services to save more than $25 million annually for the state. Prior to his service in state government, Cotterill served as an attorney on then Governor-elect Daniels’ transition team, where he drafted a number of the governor’s initial set of executive orders. He began his career as a commercial litigator at an Indianapolis law firm.
Cotterill has been honored extensively for his successes in state and city government. He was named to the Indianapolis Business Journal’s Who’s Who in Law and Forty Under 40 in 2011 and 2009, respectively, and twice was a finalist for Indy’s Best & Brightest in the government category.
Cotterill is a member of Common Ground Christian Church in the Butler-Tarkington neighborhood in Indianapolis, where he is also a member of the neighborhood association’s board of directors. He also currently serves as a precinct committeeman for the Marion County Republican Party and is a former ward chair.
Cotterill received his law degree from the Indiana University Maurer School of Law in 2002 and his undergraduate degree from Wabash College in 1999. In 2008, his alma mater named him to the Wabash College 39 Under 39.
