Notwithstanding division (D) of section 3311.19 and division (D) of section 3311.52 of the Revised Code, the provisions of this section that apply to a city school district do not apply to a joint vocational or cooperative education school district unless otherwise specified.

Except in city, joint vocational, and cooperative education school districts, the prosecuting attorney of the county shall be the legal adviser of all boards of education and the governing board of an educational service center in the county in which the prosecuting attorney is serving. The prosecuting attorney shall prosecute all actions against a member or officer of a board for malfeasance or misfeasance in office, and he shall be the legal counsel of such boards or the officers thereof in all civil actions brought by or against them and shall conduct such actions in his official capacity . In the case of educational service centers created under section 3311.053 of the Revised Code, the legal adviser shall be the prosecuting attorney of the county in which the largest number of pupils supervised by the governing board of the educational service center reside. In joint vocational and cooperative education school districts the legal adviser shall be the prosecuting attorney of the most populous county containing a school district which is a member of the joint vocational or cooperative education school district. When such civil action is between two or more boards in the same county, the prosecuting attorney shall not be required to act for either of them. In city school districts, the city director of law shall be the legal adviser and attorney for the board thereof, and shall perform the same services for such board as required of the prosecuting attorney for other boards of the county. Such duties shall devolve upon any official serving in a capacity similar to that of prosecuting attorney or city director of law for the territory wherein a school district is situated regardless of his official designation. In a district which becomes a city school district pursuant to section 3311.10 of the Revised Code, the legal adviser shall be the solicitor or director of law of the largest of the municipal corporations all or a part of which is included within the school district boundaries. No compensation in addition to such officer’s regular salary shall be allowed for such services.