Attorney Bureau Chief - County Attorney - Misdemeanor

Pima County•Tucson, AZ

3d•$137,425 - $261,081•Onsite

About The Position

The Pima County Attorney’s Office is seeking an experienced prosecutor and dynamic leader to serve as the Attorney Bureau Chief of the Misdemeanor Bureau within the Criminal Division. The Misdemeanor Bureau Chief provides strategic, legal, operational, and personnel leadership for all misdemeanor prosecution functions by supervising attorneys, law clerks, and support staff; overseeing case flow and court coverage; managing attorney and staff resources; establishing performance expectations; and ensuring consistent, effective, and ethical prosecution practices. A central responsibility of this role is the training, mentoring, and professional development of new prosecutors and law clerks. The Misdemeanor Bureau Chief plays a vital role in developing attorneys’ courtroom skills, legal analysis, judgment, trial advocacy, and understanding of prosecutorial duties. This role collaborates closely with the Attorney Trainer to develop and implement new attorney training programs and felony transition training. This includes guiding attorneys in case analysis, trial preparation, motion practice, and co trying jury cases with newer prosecutors. This role sets training benchmarks, evaluates attorney progress, identifies development needs, and prepares attorneys for increasing responsibilities within the Criminal Division. The Bureau Chief also participates in attorney recruitment, including coordinating and conducting on-and-off-campus interviews and engaging with law school career development programs. In addition, the Bureau Chief directs the professional development of law clerks by ensuring meaningful legal experience, proper supervision, and progressively responsible assignments. These opportunities may include legal research and writing, case analysis, evidence review, case preparation, courtroom exposure, and other prosecutorial functions permitted by law and court rules. The Bureau Chief works with supervising attorneys to provide consistent mentoring, feedback, and education in the professional and ethical responsibilities of prosecutors. This position is responsible for analyzing bureau workloads, caseload distribution, court calendars, staffing needs, case processing practices, and operational challenges, and for developing appropriate plans, assignments, policies, and solutions. The Bureau Chief collaborates closely with Criminal Division leadership, courts, law enforcement agencies, victim advocates, and other criminal justice partners to address legal and operational issues and advance efficient and effective misdemeanor case administration. Work is performed with substantial independence and requires exceptional judgment, discretion, leadership, accountability, and legal skill. This classification is in the unclassified service and is exempt from the Pima County Merit System Rules.

Requirements

Juris Doctorate AND ten (10) years of previous experience practicing law in criminal, civil, or administrative proceedings.
OR: One year with Pima County in an Attorney Supervisor position.
Valid driver license is required at time of application. Valid AZ driver license is required at time of appointment.
Admission to the Arizona State Bar at time of appointment, which must be maintained in good standing.

Nice To Haves

Minimum twelve (12) years of experience practicing criminal law, with substantial experience in criminal prosecution.
Minimum ten (10) years of criminal prosecution or criminal defense experience, including significant courtroom and trial experience.
Minimum five (5) years of progressively responsible supervisory or leadership experience involving attorneys, including formal supervision, lead attorney responsibilities, mentoring, training, performance management, and substantive case oversight.
Experience supervising, mentoring, training, and developing prosecutors at different stages of their professional development, particularly newer attorneys.
Experience supervising, mentoring, or providing substantive legal guidance to law clerks, legal interns, or other developing legal professionals.
Experience managing criminal prosecution operations, including attorney caseloads, assignments, courtroom coverage, case flow, staffing needs, and performance expectations.
Experience developing, implementing, or overseeing attorney training programs, prosecution standards, charging practices, plea and case-resolution practices, litigation strategies, or related policies and procedures.
Advanced knowledge of Arizona criminal law, criminal procedure, rules of evidence, victims' rights, prosecutorial ethics, and courtroom practice.
Experience collaborating effectively with courts, law enforcement agencies, victim advocates, and other criminal justice partners.
Experience with operational and staffing needs, manage competing priorities, address performance issues, and implement effective solutions in a high-volume prosecution environment.
Record of sound legal judgment, leadership, professionalism, accountability, and effective written and oral communicate.

Responsibilities

Supervises and leads attorneys and support staff of a respective bureau within the department
Supervises bureau activities involved in prosecution or defense of a variety of criminal and/or civil cases in Justice Court, Juvenile Court, Superior Court, Federal Court, Appellate Courts, and Administrative venues
Evaluates personnel and program performance
Makes recommendations to the Appointing Authority on matters including hiring, disciplinary actions, promotions, and employment termination
Manages and investigates complaints and ethical allegations
Supervises assignment of cases, prioritizes projects, and resolves workload and technical issues
Reviews case files and work products and ensures that quality standards are met
Develops charging decision guidelines, legal assessments and strategies, and office standards based on the law, strength of the case, and evidentiary standards
Provides advice and consultation to law enforcement agencies on investigations and case management
Manages complex and unusual cases and legal issues, and assists in preparing strategies to meet challenges from the opposition
Applies extensive knowledge of State of Arizona statues, case law, and judicial procedures and knowledge of County operations
Monitors and reviews trends in law enforcement and criminal justice issues, recommends operational, procedural and policy improvements, and provides guidance on regulatory, legislative and management issues
Acts as role model and ensures that integrity, professionalism, values, and goals of the assigned Department and County are maintained