Senior Assistant City Attorney

Promotional Criteria:

1. Consistent demonstrated performance and expectations for an Assistant City Attorney in the following attorney core competencies (this looks at current performance beyond the time of the last performance evaluation, as well as core competencies that may be beyond the specific items that are reviewed in the performance evaluation):
   • Legal knowledge and technical skills in the relevant practice area, including legal research skills
   • Organizational and prioritization skills
   • Work ethic, drive, diligence
   • Complex problem solving, decision making sometimes with supervision
   • Communication skills
   • Teamwork/collaboration skills
   • Contributions to CAO, the enterprise, legal systems
   • Commitment to equity
   • At least some demonstration of leadership
2. Capacity to handle future highly complex projects and make quality decisions with minimal supervision or oversight.
3. Capacity in the future to take initiative to identify and solve issues and make or recommend improvement without waiting to be assigned.
4. Overall score in most recent performance evaluation of a least 4, with each section score of a least 4
5. Consideration of active unresolved filed complaints about the candidate's behavior (e.g., ethics complaints, ADH&R complaints)
6. No discipline in the 5 years prior to promotion request
7. No performance improvement plans of letters of expectation in the 3 years prior to promotion request.

1. Represent the City in Transactional Legal Matters and Provide Legal Opinion, Advice, and Drafting.
* Conducted legal research, interpreted, and applied federal, state, and local law to provide advice, opinions, and consultative assistance to elected officials, enterprise leadership, and appointed boards and commissions on various city issues, including highly complex ones.
* Advise on applying legal requirements to specific data and facts.
* Advise on the defensibility and risk of City policies and procedures.
* Make or facilitate legal determinations based on factual situations in the City.
* Represent the CAO position in meetings with department staff, enterprise leadership, and, from time to time, elected officials.
* Research, negotiate, and draft leases, deeds, liens on real property, lien releases, sales agreements, contracts, memoranda of understanding, and similar documents.
* Structure, negotiate, draft, and close highly complex financing and real estate transactions.
* Serve as members of various enterprise policymaking and policy-implementation teams (e.g., data breach response team).
* Lead/work on cross-departmental multi-disciplinary work groups and task forces to develop and implement policies.
* Staff subcommittee meetings of the City Council and meetings of appointed boards and commissions to provide legal advice on substantive and procedural questions in real-time.
* Serve as subject matter experts, assisting with litigation matters.
* Partner with and provide legal consultation on collaborations with internal and external stakeholders in support of the Mayor's and City Council's policy-making functions.
* Manage assigned client department expectations, setting priorities and mutually agreeable timelines.
* Research and draft ordinances, resolutions, and other legislative documents.
* Prepare and conduct public presentations and provide training on various highly complex legal and compliance topics to other attorneys, city departments, elected officials, and outside partner agencies.
* Foster relationships of trust with elected officials, department heads, city staff, state and federal judges, partner agencies, other governmental subdivisions, and internal colleagues.
* Provide training to and mentor other attorneys.
2. Represent the City in All Stages of Civil Litigation Matters
* Analyze pleadings to determine legal issues, immunities, and liabilities.
* Establish an efficient and effective research plan to determine a case's proper course of action.
* Conduct research using a caselaw database, such as Westlaw, to locate relevant controlling or persuasive cases that address specific legal issues presented in litigation.
* Apply case law to the facts in a persuasive briefing to the court with proper assertions of support cited accurately from case law.
* Respond within time-sensitive timelines to discovery requests with responses asserting appropriate defenses and seek requests to reinforce City defenses and minimize liability.
* Gather relevant documents and determine the witnesses' identities.
* Direct investigative staff to conduct any additional necessary investigation.
* Review and analyze evidence, including physical evidence, body-worn cameras, squad, transit, and surveillance footage, and jail and 911 tapes.
* Evaluate and secure expert witnesses.
* Review and analyze medical records, laboratory reports, and expert witness reports.
* Make appropriate recommendations to City staff, including the City Attorney, client departments, elected officials, and internal colleagues, to minimize legal exposure. This includes analysis and advice on whether to settle the matter and for how much, appeal an adverse decision or verdict, and consider the risks and benefits of continuing litigation.
* Attend and engage in negotiations at settlement conferences with council members and department administration.
* Deliver well-thought-out, persuasive oral arguments advancing the case's legal theories and strengths both internally (client departments, CAO colleagues, and elected officials) and externally (judge and jury).
* Respond to asserted claims of weaknesses in the case with well-reasoned counterarguments.
* Meet and communicate with the plaintiff's counsel regarding the status of the case and related issues.
* Prepare cases, including those of a highly complex nature, for presentation in court by determining trial themes, identifying trial exhibits, drafting witness examinations, and thoroughly preparing City witnesses for direct and cross-examination.
* Communicate regularly with decision-making clients and city employees impacted by the litigation.
* Research, draft briefs, and present oral arguments for appeals at the Minnesota Court of Appeals, the Minnesota Supreme Court, and the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.
* Manage an assigned caseload, coordinating court dates and other schedules with all concerned parties.
* Provide advice for responses to media inquiries.
* Assist in adjusting damage claims and claims arising under the Worker's Compensation Act.
* Foster relationships of trust with elected officials, department heads, city staff, state and federal judges, partner agencies, other governmental subdivisions, and internal colleagues.
* Provide training to and mentor other attorneys.
* Conduct training, including highly complex ones, on matters within expertise.
3. Represent the City and Advise on Criminal Law Matters
* Prepare and try misdemeanor and gross misdemeanor criminal cases, including highly complex cases. This includes but is not limited to bail hearings, settlement negotiations, treatment courts, contested evidentiary hearings, jury and court trials, sentencing hearings, probation revocation hearings, and a wide variety of other categories of hearings under often stressful conditions requiring attorneys to think quickly on their feet.
* Manage an assigned caseload, coordinating court dates and other schedules with judges, defense attorneys, defendants, and witnesses.
* Make independent determinations as to what constitutes fair and legal case outcomes, deciding whether to offer incarceration, restorative justice, or another disposition and structuring offers for case resolution.
* Work with crime victims to accurately assess their losses, obtain appropriate restitution awards, and vindicate their rights in court.
* Review and analyze evidence, including physical evidence, body-worn cameras, squad, transit, and surveillance footage, and jail and 911 tapes.
* Direct investigative and support staff as necessary to gather evidence and build a criminal case.
* Advise on applying legal requirements to specific data and facts.
*
* Conduct legal research and prepare legal opinions on criminal law issues, including highly complex ones. This includes using a caselaw database, such as Westlaw, to locate relevant controlling or persuasive cases concerning specific legal issues presented in litigation.
* Produce written briefs and memoranda on various criminal law issues, including highly complex problems, at the state district court, frequently under tight deadlines and appellate levels.
* Deliver well-thought-out, persuasive oral arguments advancing the case's legal theories and strengths to judges and juries.
* Develop the necessary expertise in a wide variety of criminal and constitutional law areas, including highly complex areas, and serve as subject matter experts assisting supervisors and other prosecutors on litigation matters.
* Draft changes to state statutes and city ordinances as requested or provide expert opinions on proposed legislative and rule changes.
* Confer with and advise Minneapolis Police Departments, other law enforcement partners, and other Minneapolis City departments on legal matters and concerns involving criminal law issues, including those of a highly complex nature.
* Develop and help implement community-based criminal justice and public safety initiatives, reforms, and grant programs.
* Assist the criminal deputy and criminal supervising attorneys with projects, policy, and legal research involving highly complex issues.
* Provide training to and mentor other attorneys.
* Exhibit critical thinking and problem-solving skills with minimal, if any, supervision.
* Prepare and conduct public presentations and provide training on criminal law and criminal procedure issues, including those of a highly complex nature, to other attorneys, city departments, elected officials, and outside partner agencies.
* Foster relationships of trust with department heads, city staff, elected officials from time to time, state and judges, partner agencies, other governmental subdivisions, and internal colleagues.
* Research, draft briefs, and present oral arguments for appeals at the Minnesota Court of Appeals, the Minnesota Supreme Court, and the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.
* Regularly review new case law and statutes that change how laws are interpreted or enforced and adapt to those changes in making legal decisions.
* Review police reports, video evidence, and other available evidence and independently apply the facts to applicable criminal statutes to make charging decisions.
* Lead/work on cross-departmental multi-disciplinary work groups and task forces to develop and implement policies.
* Serve on state and local boards and committees with judges and other stakeholders that establish rules, policies, and programs affecting the criminal justice system, sometimes with statewide impact.
* Provide advice for responses to media inquiries.

Working Conditions: Regular indoor office environment.

Minimum Education: The position has a minimum educational requirement of a Juris Doctorate (J.D.)

Minimum Experience: Six or more years of experience as a licensed attorney

Licenses/Certifications: Minnesota attorney licensure through the successful bar examination and current active bar membership; ability to be licensed in federal court.

Selection Process
The selection process will consist of review of relevant education, experience, and achievements as documented in the resume and cover letter; review of other indicators of the Promotional Criteria; review of performance evaluations; and manager feedback. No specific weight will be assigned to the resume and cover letter. All candidates who satisfy the Promotion Benchmark, eligibility criteria and minimum qualifications and submit a resume and cover letter will have a passing score and be placed on the eligible list.

Background Check
The City has determined that a criminal background check and/or qualifications check may be necessary for certain positions with this job title. Applicants may be required to sign an informed consent form allowing the City to obtain their criminal history and/or verify their qualifications in connection with the position sought. Applicants who do not sign the informed consent form will not be further considered for the position.

Union Representation
This position is represented by a collective bargaining agreement between the City of Minneapolis and the AFSCME Attorneys. For more information on the terms and conditions of this agreement please visit: AFSCME Attorneys - City of Minneapolis

Eligible List Statement
The names of applicants who satisfy the Promotion Benchmark, eligibility criteria and minimum qualifications and submit a resume and cover letter shall be placed on the eligible list for consideration. This list will be certified to the hiring manager who may use the list to fill a vacancy of the same job title. This eligible list will expire upon hire after it has been established.

Attorneys are expected to demonstrate the following general core competencies; SACAs are expected to demonstrate these competencies at a greater degree than expected of an ACA:
* Advanced legal knowledge and technical skills
* Work ethic, drive, diligence
* Highly complex problem-solving and decision-making with minimal supervision
* Communication skills
* Teamwork/collaboration skills
* Contributions to CAO, the enterprise, legal systems
* Commitment to Equity
* Significant demonstration of leadership
* Takes initiative to identify and solve issues and make or recommend improvements without waiting to be assigned.
* Strong legal research skills
* Strong organizational and prioritization skills
* Excellent communication skills
* Capacity to handle highly complex projects and make high-quality decisions

As the largest and most vibrant city in the state, Minneapolis depends on purposeful, dedicated and innovative employees. Minneapolis has a large variety of careers for people of all experiences and backgrounds who come together for a singular purpose-serving the residents, businesses and visitors of Minneapolis.

The City of Minneapolis is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer.