Staff Attorney

Energy Northwest • Richland, WA

2d • $122,681 - $243,412

About The Position

Energy Northwest is expanding its legal team! We are seeking an experienced attorney with a robust background in contracts and regulatory matters to join us and provide crucial support to the legal department during the Extended Power Uprate for the Columbia Generating Station. This role will support Legal Services as a generalist, offering the unique opportunity to tackle a wide range of legal issues on behalf of the agency. GENERAL SUMMARY The Senior Counsel reports directly to the Legal Services Supervisor. This position provides legal advice, counsel and services to all organizations within Energy Northwest regarding a wide range of activities without significant oversight. In addition to providing legal services to the company, primary responsibilities include ensuring procedural and legal compliance in a number of regulatory areas such as environmental, nuclear, ethics, industrial safety, procurement, Washingtons State Public Records Act (PRA), employment and managing major contractual transactions and litigation without significant day-to-day supervision.

Requirements

• Senior Counsel Requires a Juris Doctorate (JD) degree from an accredited law school and seven years of aggregate experience practicing as an attorney.
• A record of continual learning and training and the ability to obtain license through the Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) by Motion within one year.
• Must meet and maintain nuclear requirements for Unescorted Plant Access.
• At least two or more years previous legal experience at a law firm, municipality, or public utility district doing legal work related to one or more of the following areas: employment, contracts, litigation, environmental, and energy transactions.
• Staff Counsel II Requires a Juris Doctorate (JD) degree from an accredited law school and five years of aggregate experience practicing as an attorney.
• A record of continual learning and training and the ability to obtain license through the Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) by Motion within one year.
• Must meet and maintain nuclear requirements for Unescorted Plant Access.
• At least two or more years previous legal experience at a law firm, municipality, or public utility district doing legal work related to one or more of the following areas: employment, contracts, litigation, environmental, and energy transactions.
• Staff Counsel I Requires a Juris Doctorate (JD) degree from an accredited law school and five years of aggregate experience practicing as an attorney.
• A record of continual learning and training and the ability to obtain license through the Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) by Motion within one year.
• Must meet and maintain nuclear requirements for Unescorted Plant Access.
• At least two or more years previous legal experience at a law firm, municipality, or public utility district doing legal work related to one or more of the following areas: employment, contracts, litigation, environmental, and energy transactions.

Responsibilities

• Provide legal support and advice with respect to nuclear licensing and nuclear regulatory compliance issues, including but not limited to Nuclear Regulatory Commission investigations and enforcement matters.
• Negotiate, draft and review a wide variety of diverse contracts, leases, waivers, and other agreements on behalf of Energy Northwest with limited oversight or supervision.
• Provide legal support in a number of regulatory areas such as environmental, ethics, industrial safety, and employment, including but not limited to attending meetings and interfacing with all levels of staff at Energy Northwest.
• Establish and maintain programmatic and procedural guidance for implementation of the PRA including oversight of the Paralegal in analyzing and evaluating PRA requests, determining responsive records, establishing search criteria.
• Oversee the Paralegal’s work to ensure timely communication with requesters to establish commitments.
• Oversee the Paralegal’s work with office(s) of records to obtain responsive records within commitment timeframes.
• Provide legal review and support of PRA responses.
• Protect Energy Northwest’s financial and legal interests by initiating and/or defending Energy Northwest in contract claims, contract requests for equitable adjustments, lawsuits, administrative hearings, administrative investigations, and/or directing the conduct of such litigation by outside counsel.
• Provide legal advice to Energy Northwest staff and governing boards on both policy and operation level matters on an ongoing basis.
• Prepare budgets for significant transactional matters and litigation and assure that, to the extent practicable, those matters are conducted within budget.
• Team participant in strategic development of energy transactions.
• Must participate on the Emergency Response team (ERO) when designated.
• Must support the biennial refueling outage.

Benefits

• Energy Northwest (EN) provides a phenomenal benefits package.
• Washington State also has no state income tax, and the Tri-Cities provides a cost-of-living lower than the national average.
• EN offers substantial retirement benefits through three retirement programs including the Washington State Public Employees' Retirement System pension plan (PERS), a 401(k) savings plan with an employer match component, and a 457(b) savings plan.
• EN also offers multiple options for medical, dental, vision, disability and life insurance coverage.
• Other voluntary benefits may include flexible spending accounts (FSAs), tuition reimbursement, student loan repayment, childcare subsides, health reimbursement arrangement (HRA VEBA), health savings account (HSA), supplemental life insurances, credit monitoring/identity theft insurance, and more!
• Qualifying employees will typically start a personal time accrual rate of 160 hours per year and EN provides nine paid holidays throughout the Calander year; personal time accruals grow significantly at various service intervals.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree