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Job Description

CHIEF ASSISTANT CITY ATTORNEY

(Non-classified)

JOB CODE 10180

Effective Date:	12/92A

DISTINGUISHING FEATURES OF THE CLASS:

The fundamental reason this classification exists is to perform the duties of chief assistant to the City Attorney. The employee assists the City Attorney in planning, developing, and implementing the legal program and acts for the City Attorney in absence of same. Duties include providing advice and counsel to Assistant City Attorneys and the City Prosecutor on routine matters, freeing the City Attorney for high administrative and professional tasks, and serving as counsel to a number of major City departments. Supervision is exercised over all professional members of the City Attorney's staff. Work is performed under the direction of the City Attorney within the limits of general policies of the City and established standards and practices of the legal profession and requires the application of extensive experience and skill. Performance is evaluated on the basis of results obtained.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

• Serves as counsel to City Manager and City Council;
• Attends City Council meetings and conferences with City officials to determine the intent of official actions, considers possible alternative legal and administrative solutions to problems confronting these bodies, and renders oral and written opinions on legal questions and issues;
• Supervises the work performed in the Office of the City Attorney and Civil and Criminal divisions;
• Determines the propriety of major actions under the City Charter, State Constitution, and state and federal law;
• Serves as Acting City Attorney in City Attorney's absence;
• Reviews and helps prepare formal legal opinions to the Mayor, City Council, City Manager, and Department heads;
• Represents the City Attorney's Office on matters involving the modification and computerization of the Law Department;
• Prepares and approves proposed ordinances for final determination;
• Plans and supervises the work of professional staff;
• Reviews contract procedures for major City purchases and form;
• Demonstrates continuous effort to improve operations, decrease turnaround times, streamline work processes, and work cooperatively and jointly to provide quality seamless customer service.

Required Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

Knowledge of:

• City Codes, City Charter, and ordinances.
• Organization, function, and legal limitations on the authority of various City departments and enforcement and procedural problems.
• State and federal constitutional and statutory provisions relating to municipalities.
• Accepted legal principles and court decisions.
• Judicial procedure, rules of civil and criminal procedure, and rules of evidence.
• Principles and practices of personnel management and supervision.
• Principles of criminal and civil law.

Ability to:

• Analyze alternative approaches to problems and recommend a balanced use of legal and administrative approaches in resolving problems.
• Analyze, appraise, and organize facts, evidence, and precedents and presents them in oral and written reports.
• Review, discuss, and advise regarding legal policy issues.
• Work cooperatively with other employees, customers, clients, and the public.
• Demonstrate judgment in determining when to appeal, when to negotiate, and when to pursue major actions.
• Produce documents written in the English language using proper sentence structure, punctuation, grammar, and spelling.
• Perform a broad range of supervisory responsibilities over others.
• Review and check the work of others to ensure accuracy.
• Enter and retrieve data or information from a terminal, PC, or other keyboard device.
• Communicate orally in the English language with customers, clients, and the public using a telephone and in group and face-to-face, one-to-one settings.

Additional Requirements:

• Some positions will require the performance of other essential and marginal functions depending upon work location, assignment, or shift.
• Admission to the State Bar of Arizona.

ACCEPTABLE EXPERIENCE AND TRAINING:
Three years of experience as a practicing attorney performing high level legal and trial work (equivalent to an Assistant City Attorney IV) and graduation from an accredited school of law. Other combinations of experience and education that meet the minimum requirements may be substituted.