The two people battling to become San Diego’s next city attorney clashed Saturday over their qualifications, transparency at City Hall and whether public sparring is crucial to the job they seek.

Deputy City Attorney Heather Ferbert attacked Assemblymember Brian Maienschein as a career politician who hasn’t actually practiced law in two decades, contending that makes him unqualified for city attorney.

“If we are having an inexperienced lawyer leading the city attorney’s office, millions of dollars will be lost to frivolous lawsuits and settlements — and that money won’t be available for road repairs or police officers or housing,” she said during a debate at University of San Diego.

Maienschein said he teaches law at USD and is highly familiar with many aspects of government and municipal law from his years in the Assembly and serving on the San Diego City Council before that.

He said his political career makes him more qualified than Ferbert, who has not held public office or even run for election before.

“I’m so grateful I wasn’t stuck practicing a tiny little area of municipal law for the last 30 years,” Maienschein said. “I’m glad I got to go out and expand my horizons.”

Ferbert said her experience has been varied and puts her in a much stronger position to lead a complex legal office with 170 attorneys.

“It has not been a narrow experience,” said Ferbert, adding that she has worked with every city department. “It varies from prosecuting misdemeanors to keep our women and children and families safe in our community to protecting housing to making sure contractors who try to defraud the city are held accountable.”

Maienschein said his stint on the City Council from 2000 to 2008 — and his 16 years away from City Hall since then — have given him perspective that Ferbert lacks.

“I sat in the chair and understand what the city attorney has done well, but I also understand what the city attorney has done not so well,” he said. “I bring an outsider’s perspective to some of the changes that need to occur.”

Ferbert said it’s ridiculous for Maienschein to call himself an outsider when he’s racked up endorsements from Mayor Todd Gloria, most of the City Council and the county Democratic Party.

“I find it very interesting my opponent is trying to run as the outsider candidate when he has had a 25-year political career in both parties and has always been the insider and is endorsed by all the insiders in the city,” she said.

Saturday’s debate is the only one scheduled in what has been the most competitive of seven San Diego races this year. It’s the only city race that doesn’t feature an incumbent; term limits prevent City Attorney Mara Elliott, who has endorsed Ferbert, from seeking re-election.

In the March primary, Ferbert got 53 percent of the vote and Maienschein got 47 percent. The two advanced to a November runoff.

San Diego’s city attorney plays a key role in advising the mayor and council on land-use decisions, lawsuits and the legality of proposed policies. The job also includes overseeing misdemeanor prosecutions.

Maienschein said he would bring a more professional, subdued and nonconfrontational approach to the job, criticizing Elliott for sparring publicly often with the mayor and council members.

“The chaos that we see at the council, the chaos that we see between the city attorney’s office and who they’re interacting with, is not something that should be replicated,” he said. “It’s sort of this needless playground-type bickering.”

Maienschein said the primary reasons he’s gotten endorsements from so many fellow politicians with differing ideologies is his demeanor and professionalism.

“People who have seen my character and how I conduct myself have endorsed me,” he said. “I treat people with respect and dignity. I don’t go on Twitter and attack people.”

Ferbert said instances of public sparring are relatively rare — and almost always necessary when they happen.

“When it gets messy is on big property transactions that are going to have long-term impacts,” she said. “That should be messy. We want a city attorney who is going to issue a memo so the public is aware of what’s going on.”

Maienschein also criticized the city attorney’s office for not consistently complying with the state’s Public Records Act, which has led to several successful lawsuits against the city featuring large payouts.

“You would think after one or two lawsuits, you would change that policy,” he said.

Ferbert said she is committed to transparency and plans to lobby other elected city officials to create a special department for public records requests if she is elected.

She said such a department, where the people handling requests would have particular expertise, would make responses faster and prevent lawsuits.