Corporation Counsel Mary Richardson-Lowry speaks at a news conference flanked by Mayor Brandon Johnson on Oct. 9, 2024. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

A government watchdog group said current state law doesn’t prevent the passage of reforms to the city’s law department that are the subject of current negotiations between the chair of the Committee on Ethics and Government Oversight and Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration. But the city’s law department has argued that the law is already on its side when it comes to existing practices.