Assistant County Counsel - Municipal Civil Litigation

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Assistant County Counsel - Municipal Civil Litigation

Salary

$113,685.77 - $227,630.20 Annually

Location

Ventura and may require travel throughout Ventura County, CA

Job Type

Full-Time Regular

Job Number

0039CC-24AA (LC)

Department

County Counsel

Opening Date

06/07/2024

• Description

• Benefits

• Questions

Description

The County Counsel’s Office provides legal advice and representation to County departments, agencies, officials, and employees in all civil law matters. The County Counsel's Office is distinguished from the District Attorney's Office and the Public Defender's Office, which handle criminal matters.

THE DEPARTMENT

The County Counsel’s Office employs approximately 26 attorneys and 12 support personnel. The working title for line-assigned attorneys is Assistant County Counsel, although the formal Civil Service classifications for the Assistant County Counsel positions are Civil Attorney I, II, III, and Senior Civil Attorney. Five attorney positions are assigned to management of the Office, including the County Counsel. The individual assignments of Assistant County Counsels are varied, reflecting the breadth of functions performed by the County, and can include litigation, advisory and transactional duties.

THE POSITION

An Assistant County Counsel position is available in the Civil Attorney II, Civil Attorney III or Senior Civil Attorney classification, depending upon candidate experience. This is a municipal civil litigation position that will represent the County, its departments, agencies, officials, and employees in all aspects of civil litigation in state and federal trial and appellate courts and in administrative legal proceedings. Applications are sought from motivated attorneys with relevant experience wishing to join County Counsel’s collaborative team. Litigation matters commonly involve employment law, constitutional law, civil rights, tort claims, writs of mandate, Public Records Act, dangerous condition of public property, inverse condemnation, code enforcement, and public works and contracting in both state and federal courts.

APPROXIMATE PAYROLL TITLES AND ANNUAL SALARIES:

Civil Attorney II: $113,685.77 - $159,160.08

Civil Attorney III: $139,880.78 - $195,833.11

Senior Civil Attorney: $162,577.08 - $227,630.20

NOTE: If appointed at the lower level, incumbent may be promoted to the higher level without further exam upon meeting the minimum requirements, demonstrating satisfactory performance, and in accordance with the business needs of the department.

Civil attorneys receive management benefits and are exempt from overtime compensation.

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE:

OPENING DATE: June 7, 2024

CLOSING DATE: Continuous

FIRST REVIEW COMPLETE: June 24, 2024

EXAMINATION DATE: To be determined

Examples Of Duties

Duties may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Represent client agencies, officials, and employees in civil hearings and trials, appellate hearings, administrative hearings, arbitrations, mediations and depositions;

• Formulate and collaborate with County Counsel management and County officials regarding litigation objectives and strategy;

• Prepare litigation documents including complaints, answers, demurrers/motions to dismiss, motions for summary judgment and other motions, appellate briefs, stipulations, discovery requests and responses, trial and arbitration briefs, motions in limine, jury instructions, and settlement agreements;

• Prepare legal opinions and memoranda regarding litigation matters;

• Verbally advise and counsel the Board of Supervisors, department heads, and other County officials and employees regarding all aspects of civil litigation;

• Perform other related duties as required.

Typical Qualifications

These are entrance requirements to the recruitment process and assure neither continuance in the process nor placement on an eligible list.

EDUCATION AND LICENSING:

All levels require graduation from law school and active membership in the State Bar of California.

EXPERIENCE:

Civil Attorney II - A minimum of two (2) years of professional legal experience.

Civil Attorney III - A minimum of four (4) years of professional legal experience.

Senior Civil Attorney – A minimum of six (6) years of professional legal experience.

NECESSARY SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS:

General municipal civil litigation experience representing public entities and officials in state and federal courts and administrative proceedings.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES:

General knowledge of: Common municipal laws such as employment law, constitutional law, civil rights, writs of mandate, Public Records Act, dangerous condition of public property, inverse condemnation, code enforcement, and public works and contracting.

Comprehensive knowledge of: State and federal rules of civil procedure, discovery, evidence, professional conduct, and legal research and writing methods.

Comprehensive skill and ability to: Analyze complex legal claims and defenses; utilize legal research to find principles of law, statutes and cases on point; develop litigation strategies to accomplish client objectives; present statements of fact and argument clearly and persuasively orally and in writing; develop discovery plan and conduct all aspects of discovery; draft legal pleadings, briefs and advisory memoranda; and obtain the confidence and respect of members of the legal profession, public officials and other persons.

SPECIAL RESTRICTIONS AND REQUIREMENTS:

The County of Ventura Personnel Rules and Regulations prohibit County attorneys from engaging in the private practice of law for compensation.

Pursuant to the Political Reform Act of 1974, the Assistant County Counsels must file a financial disclosure statement within thirty (30) days of appointment, and annually thereafter.

Recruitment Process

FINAL FILING DATE : This is a continuous recruitment and may close at any time; therefore, apply as soon as possible if you are interested in it. Your application must be received by County of Ventura Human Resources no later than 5:00 p.m. on the closing date.

First review date is anticipated to be completed by Monday, June 24, 2024.

To apply on-line refer to web site: www.ventura.org/jobs. If you prefer to fill out a paper application form, please call (805) 654-5129 for application materials and submit them to County of Ventura Human Resources, 800 S. Victoria Avenue, L-1970, Ventura, CA 93009.

NOTE: If presently permanently employed in another "merit" or "civil service" public agency/entity in the same or substantively similar position as is advertised, and if appointed to that position by successful performance in a "merit" or "civil service" style examination, then appointment by "Lateral Transfer" may be possible. If interested, please click here (http://vcportal.ventura.org/CEO/HR/docs/Lateral_Transfer.pdf) ( Download PDF reader (https://get.adobe.com/reader/) ) for additional information.

NOTE: Sufficient information must be provided under the Education/Work experience portion of the application and supplemental questionnaire, if applicable, to thoroughly and accurately demonstrate your qualifications in order to determine eligibility. A resume may be attached to supplement the information in the above sections; however, it may not be submitted in lieu of the application.

APPLICATION EVALUATION – qualifying: All applications will be reviewed to determine if the stated requirements are met. Those individuals meeting the stated requirements will be invited to continue to the next step in the screening and selection process.

SUPPLEMENTAL QUESTIONNAIRE – qualifying: All applicants are required to complete and submit the questionnaire for this examination at the time of filing. The supplemental questionnaire may be used throughout the examination process to assist in determining each applicant's qualifications and acceptability for the position. Failure to complete and submit the questionnaire may result in the application being removed from consideration.

TRAINING and EXPERIENCE EVALUATION: A Training and Experience Evaluation (T&E) is a structured evaluation of the job application materials submitted by a candidate, including the written responses to the supplemental questionnaire. The T&E is NOT a determination of whether the candidate meets the stated requirements; rather, the T&E is one method for determining the better qualified candidates among those who have shown that they meet the stated requirements. In a T&E, applications are either scored or rank ordered according to criteria that most closely meet the business needs of the Department. Candidates are typically scored/ranked in relation to one another; consequently, when the pool of candidates is exceptionally strong, many qualified candidates may receive a score or rank which is moderate or even low resulting in them not being advanced in the process.

NOTE: The selection process will likely consist of an oral examination, which may be preceded by or replaced with, the score from a T&E, contingent upon the size and quality of the candidate pool. In a typical T&E, your training and experience are evaluated in relation to the background, experience and factors identified for successful job performance during a job analysis. For this reason, it is recommended that your application materials clearly show your relevant background and specialized knowledge, skills, and abilities. It is also highly recommended that the supplemental questionnaire within the application is completed with care and diligence.

ORAL EXAMINATION – 100%: All qualifying applicants, or those selected for further examination if there is a high number of qualified applicants, will be invited to an oral examination. Those applicants invited to the oral examination may be required to bring their law school transcripts and a writing sample showing their ability to research, analyze and apply the law. A panel of three persons will conduct the oral examination to evaluate and compare participating candidates' knowledge, skills and abilities in relation to those factors determined to be essential for successful performance of the job.

ELIGIBILITY LIST: Candidates who score seventy percent (70%) or higher on the oral examination will be placed on an eligible list for one (1) year. If there are three (3) or fewer qualified applicants, an oral examination will not be conducted. Instead, a score of seventy percent (70%) will be assigned to each applicant, and each applicant will be placed on the eligible list. The eligible list established from this recruitment may be used to fill existing and future regular, temporary, fixed-term, intermittent and extra-help positions within the office only. There is currently one (1) Regular vacancy.

BACKGROUND INVESTIGATION: A thorough pre-employment, post-offer background investigation, which may include inquiry into past employment, education, criminal background information and driving record, may be required for this position.

For further information about this recruitment, please contact Lorin Calderon by email to Lorin.Calderon@ventura.org (Lorin.Calderon@ventura.org%20) or phone (805) 654-2959.

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY : The County of Ventura is an equal opportunity employer to all, regardless of age, ancestry, color, disability (mental and physical), exercising the right to family care and medical leave, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, military or veteran status, national origin, political affiliation, race, religious creed, sex (includes pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding and related medical conditions), and sexual orientation.

YOUR BENEFITS AS A COUNTY OF VENTURA EMPLOYEE

MANAGEMENT

To learn more about Benefits, Retirement, and the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), see links below.

• Benefits website (https://hr.ventura.org/benefits) or you may call (805) 654-2570.

• Retirement FAQ's (https://vcportal.ventura.org/CEO/benefits/docs/RETIREMENT%20-%20FAQs.pdf)

• Memorandum of Agreement

Union Codes: MB3, MB4, MS, MT, MCC, MU

01

Please describe your experience representing public entities detailing entities represented, types of issues and departments assigned, and the nature of your legal experience as to those entities and departments.

If you have no such experience, please type "no experience."

02

Please describe your knowledge, training, skills, and continuing education regarding municipal civil litigation.

If you have experience involving subject matter such as employment law, constitutional law, civil rights, tort claims, writs of mandate, Public Records Act, dangerous condition of public property, inverse condemnation, code enforcement, public works and contracting, and/or others please indicate that in your answer.

If you have no such experience, please type "no experience."

03

Please describe your experience with judicial and administrative proceedings detailing your role in:

A) representation; B) the type, venue, and number of cases worked on; C) the types of issues addressed; and significant case outcomes.

If you have no such experience, please type "no experience."

04

Please describe your experience directly advising and counseling public entity officials, boards, and commissions regarding municipal civil litigation matters.

If you have no such experience, please type "no experience."

05

EMPLOYER USE ONLY - Applicant meets the minimum qualifications for:

• Civil Attorney II

• Civil Attorney III

• Senior Civil Attorney

  Required Question

Agency

Ventura County

Address

800 S. Victoria Avenue LOC. #1970 Ventura, California, 93009

Phone

(805) 654-5129

Website

http://hr.ventura.org

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