The San Francisco City Attorney’s Office is looking for a qualified and motivated attorney to join its Government Litigation Team.

Appointment Type: Permanent Exempt (PEX) position; individuals who are appointed to Exempt Positions are appointed at the pleasure of their appointing officer and are considered to be "at-will."

• Application Opening: October 18, 2024
• Application Deadline: Continuous, earliest close 5:00 p.m. Friday, November 1, 2024
• Compensation Range: $147,914- $259,142
• Recruitment ID: REF45965X

About the Office

The San Francisco City Attorney’s Office is an innovative, nationally-recognized municipal law office working to protect and advance the rights and interests of the City and County of San Francisco and its residents. With over 300 talented and dedicated employees, the Office provides exceptional legal services to the City’s Mayor, Board of Supervisors, officials, and departments. Our work empowers City leaders with effective, responsive, and creative legal solutions and representation so they can deliver critical public services, and our affirmative advocacy enhances the lives and wellbeing of San Francisco’s residents and visitors.

The Office recognizes that diversity in the backgrounds, identities, ideas, and lived experiences of our employees enriches our workplace and enhances our work. We aspire to recruit, employ, retain, and promote talented individuals representing the full spectrum of our community, and welcome all candidates, including candidates of any race, religion, national origin, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, and age, and candidates with disabilities. We have a clear vision: to be the place where a diverse mix of people want to come and stay, grow professionally, and find purpose and engagement, and where all employees feel welcomed and respected for their full authentic selves, and valued for their work and contributions to the Office and the City. To learn more about the Office’s efforts to provide an inclusive workplace where employees feel they belong and can meaningfully contribute, please visit: https://www.sfcityattorney.org/aboutus/dei/

The Office offers a hybrid remote work schedule for eligible employees, with three days onsite and up to two days remote.

To learn more about the City Attorney’s Office please visit: https://www.sfcityattorney.org/

About the Government Litigation Team

The Government Litigation Team is a collaborative and dynamic group of four attorneys, two paralegals, and two legal secretaries. The Team handles litigation in state and federal trial and appellate courts, principally on the defense side. The Team’s docket is broad, and generally focuses on defending the legality of City ordinances, regulations, and programs and of quasi-judicial decisions made by City administrative agencies challenged through administrative mandamus. The Team is experienced in litigating issues of federal and state preemption and all manner of federal and state Constitutional claims, focusing particularly on issues of free speech, free exercise and/or establishment of religion, equal protection, and due process. The Team also litigates issues arising under California constitutional or statutory provisions limiting the enactment of local taxes and fees, as well as under state and local open meeting and public records laws. Most of the Team’s cases involve principally legal rather than factual issues. 

Deputy City Attorney Position and Responsibilities

Attorneys on the Government Litigation Team typically handle their own cases, although a small subset of cases require Team members to work collaboratively with other attorneys on the Team. Attorneys on the Team handle all aspects of their cases, including litigation strategy, client communication and coordination, discovery and document review, motion practice, settlement evaluation and negotiation, trial and appeal. Many of the Team’s cases involve motions for preliminary injunction or other interim relief.

Minimum Qualifications

• Licensed to practice law in California

Desired Qualifications

• Five or more years of civil litigation experience, including appellate experience
• Excellent written and oral communication and advocacy skills
• Ability to research, understand and effectively communicate complex issues of constitutional law
• Ability to assume responsibility quickly, work both collaboratively and independently, and think deeply and thoroughly about novel substantive and procedural legal issues
• Work effectively and efficiently within often ambitious internal deadlines, being able to adjust to last minute assignments and workload increases with agility
• Ability to vigorously defend complex defensive matters in both state and federal courts
• Work effectively with paralegals and support staff
• Ability to exercise excellent judgment, multi-task, and be curious
• Commitment to valuing diversity and contributing to an inclusive working and learning environment
• Excellent interpersonal skills and a positive attitude
• Interest and ability to work successfully as part of a team with other attorneys and with clients, including elected officials

Salary and Benefits

The Deputy City Attorney position has a 16-step salary scale ranging from $147,914 to $259,142. The successful applicant is appointed to a salary step based on years of experience as a lawyer. The City offers robust health, retirement and other benefits. For more information please visit: https://sfdhr.org/benefits-overview. Attorneys are represented by the Municipal Attorneys Association. Information about compensation and benefits is available by entering Classification Code 8177 at https://careers.sf.gov/classifications/.

Application

To apply for this position, please submit your resume and cover letter. Applicants who advance in the selection process must submit three references and two writing samples.

Verification

Applicants may be required to submit verification of qualifying education and experience at any point during the recruitment and selection process. If education verification is required, information on how to verify education requirements, including verifying foreign education credits or degree equivalency, can be found at https://sfdhr.org/how-verify-education-requirements”

Note: Falsifying one’s education, training, or work experience or attempted deception on the application may result in disqualification for this and future job opportunities with the City and County of San Francisco.

All work experience, education, training and other information substantiating how you meet the minimum qualifications must be included on your application by the filing deadline. Information submitted after the filing deadline will not be considered in determining whether you meet the minimum qualifications.

Resumes will not be accepted in lieu of a completed City and County of San Francisco application.

Applications completed improperly may be cause for ineligibility, disqualification or may lead to lower scores.

Selection Procedures

The selection process will include evaluation of applications in relation to minimum requirements. Applicants meeting the minimum qualifications are not guaranteed advancement to the interview. Depending on the number of applicants, the Department may establish and implement additional screening mechanisms to comparatively evaluate the qualifications of candidates. If this becomes necessary, only those applicants whose qualifications most closely meet the needs of the Department will be invited to participate in the next stage of the selection process. The stated desirable qualifications may be considered at the end of the selection process when candidates are referred for hiring. 

Additional Information Regarding Employment with the City and County of San Francisco:

• Information About the Hiring Process
• Conviction History
• Employee Benefits Overview  
• Equal Employment Opportunity 
• Disaster Service Worker
• ADA Accommodation
• Veterans Preference
• Right to Work
• Copies of Application Documents
• Diversity Statement

HOW TO APPLY

Applications for City and County of San Francisco jobs are only accepted through an online process. Visit https://careers.sf.gov/ and begin the application process.

• Select the “Apply Now” button and follow instructions on the screen

Applicants may be contacted by email about this recruitment and, therefore, it is their responsibility to ensure that their registered email address is accurate and kept up-to-date. Also, applicants must ensure that email from CCSF is not blocked on their computer by a spam filter. To prevent blocking, applicants should set up their email to accept CCSF mail from the following addresses (@sfgov.org, @sfdpw.org, @sfport.com, @flysfo.com, @sfwater.org, @sfdph.org, @asianart.org, @sfmta.com, @sfpl.org, @dcyf.org, @first5sf.org, @famsf.org, @ccsf.edu, @smartalerts.info, and @smartrecruiters.com).

Applicants will receive a confirmation email that their online application has been received in response to every announcement for which they file. Applicants should retain this confirmation email for their records. Failure to receive this email means that the online application was not submitted or received.

Human Resources Analyst Information: If you have any questions regarding this recruitment or application process, please send your inquires to Asa Nojd, HR Analyst, at [email protected].

The City and County of San Francisco encourages women, minorities and persons with disabilities to apply. Applicants will be considered regardless of their sex, race, age, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition (associated with cancer, a history of cancer, or genetic characteristics), HIV/AIDS status, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, military and veteran status, or other protected category under the law.