Deputy City Attorney II/III

Los Angeles City Attorney's Office • Los Angeles Harbor Administration Building, CA

15h • Onsite

About The Position

The Office of the Los Angeles City Attorney is one of the nation's largest municipal law offices, providing high-caliber legal services to the City of Los Angeles. The Port of Los Angeles (POLA) Division attorneys work closely with the Board of Harbor Commissioners and Harbor Department management on a variety of legal matters. The selected candidate will focus on areas such as civil litigation and disputes in environmental, real estate, land use, commercial transactions, insurance coverage, employment, and tort/contract claims. The division also handles environmental law issues, land use, zoning, real property, and real estate transactional issues, as well as municipal governance, contracting, financial, and business matters. Construction and development, risk management, and human resources are also key areas. The Port is a unique work environment, and applicants with prior experience representing ports and/or municipal agencies are preferred.

Requirements

• Licensed to practice law in all courts in the State of California
• Minimum five (5) years of relevant legal experience in one or more of the aforementioned areas of law
• Strong written and oral communication skills
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Willingness to work in practice areas in which the applicant currently is not familiar
• Ability to deal effectively with colleagues, public officials, non-attorney department personnel, and members of the public

Nice To Haves

• High-level demonstrated experience and success in pleading, law and motion, discovery, trial preparation and trial, and experience in analogous settings, including arbitration and administrative hearings in matters involving real estate, land use, commercial transactions, competitive solicitations, insurance coverage, employment law, environmental law, and/or personal injury and/or property damage.
• Successful trials and/or appeals (applicants are requested to provide citations to any published cases in which they acted as counsel, and to summarize their role in such cases).
• Analyses and assessments relative to exposures and case valuations for purposes of client decision making regarding dispute handling and potential settlement.
• Significant hands-on and direct involvement in assisting clients with obtaining entitlements for major projects that involve application of environmental and regulatory laws.
• Navigating regulatory issues and regulatory agency involvement on behalf of clients that wish to undertake major projects.
• Proven track record of assisting clients in negotiating and closing significant real estate transactions and navigating legal and negotiating issues that arise in that process, preferably in the port and/or municipal agency context.
• Prior experience representing ports and/or municipal agencies.

Responsibilities

• Handle assignments involving municipal governance, real estate transactional law, transactional, contracting, financial, and business matters, regulatory and environmental law, construction and development, and risk management and human resources.
• Focus on one or more subject matter areas including civil litigation and disputes in environmental (CEQA, CERCLA), real estate (unlawful detainer, landlord-tenant), land use (Tidelands Trust Act, California Coastal Act), commercial transactions, insurance coverage, employment, and tort/contract claims.
• Handle issues arising under environmental laws and with environmental regulatory agencies.
• Address land use, zoning, real property, and real estate transactional issues, including negotiations of lease documents and amendments.
• Provide advice and counsel to POLA management and Board regarding costs, benefits, risks, and opportunities.
• Handle assignments involving other areas of law, depending on skills, qualifications, and operational needs of the Division.

Benefits

• Employees participate in the Los Angeles City Employees’ Retirement System (LACERS), which includes mandatory employee pension contributions through payroll deduction.
• The City also contributes toward the employee’s retirement benefit.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level