Senior Deputy County Counsel (Promotional)

YOU MUST BE AN ALAMEDA COUNTY EMPLOYEE TO APPLY

THIS IS A NEW PROMOTIONAL ASSEMBLED EXAMINATION.  The eligible list resulting from this examination will cancel any existing list and may last approximately one year but can be extended. 

Qualified applicants must be current county employees and have completed the equivalent of six months of continuous service following a regular appointment in the Alameda County classified service by September 9, 2019.  A regular appointment does not include provisional, TAP (Temporary Assignment Pool), or STEP-UP appointments.

Supplemental Questionnaire:  A properly completed Supplemental Questionnaire must be submitted with each application.  Applications and supplemental questionnaires must be in the possession of the Human Resource Services Department by 5:00 p.m. on the Last Day for Filing.

Applications will only be accepted on-line.

ABOUT THE COUNTY

Alameda County, located on the east side of San Francisco Bay, is California’s seventh-largest county. The County employs 9,080 full-time employees and operates on an annual budget of $2.39 billion. Oakland, the County seat, is California’s eighth largest city. One and a half million people call Alameda County home and live in a variety of incorporated cities, unincorporated communities and rural areas. As a major urban county, Alameda provides a full range of services to its citizens. The County is a blend of culturally and ethnically diverse communities, and its mixture of cosmopolitan and suburban areas provides the perfect environment for families and their active lifestyles. The County offers extensive cultural resources, countless recreational opportunities and an array of fine public and private colleges and universities.

OFFICE OF THE COUNTY COUNSEL

The mission statement of the Office of the County Counsel is to provide competent, efficient and cost-effective legal representation and advice, thus advancing and protecting the programs and financial resources of the County, its officers, departments, boards, commissions, districts, and courts.   The Office of County Counsel provides both mandated and discretionary services including providing legal services in civil matters to the County and all of its departments and agencies along with providing County officials and departments legal advice and assistance on matters such as conflicts of interest, and personnel and labor relations issues involving the drafting and interpretation of union-county memoranda of understanding, salary and fringe benefit provisions, affirmative action, employment discrimination, personnel officer training, and employee discipline.

THE POSITION

Under general direction of an Assistant or Chief Assistant County Counsel, performs difficult or complex civil legal matters and represents clients of the Office of the County Counsel that are either complex or are independent from the County with unique legal needs; to mentor, train or assist in the supervision and training on a project basis of the Associate Deputy County Counsels; to handle the duties of the Assistant or Chief Assistant while they are unavailable; and to perform related work as required. Senior Deputy County Counsel is intended to be promotional from within the Office of the Alameda County Counsel, but may be opened to external candidates if the County Counsel determines that the needs of the office cannot be met by a promotional appointment.

Please CLICK HERE for the full job description.

Either I

The equivalent of five years’ of full-time service in the class of Deputy County Counsel in the Alameda County classified service.

Or II

The equivalent of six years’ of full-time, increasingly responsible experience as an attorney in the practice of civil law.

Licenses:

Current active membership in the California State Bar.
Possession of a valid California Motor Vehicle Operator's license.

NOTE: The Civil Service Commission may modify the above Minimum Qualifications in the announcement of an examination.

The most suitably qualified candidates will possess the following competencies:

Knowledge of:

• Methods of legal research involving issues arising from California and federal statutory and constitutional law.
• Trial and hearing procedures and rules of evidence.
• Principles and practice of constitutional, civil and administrative law and procedure, California civil and appellate procedures.
• California statutory and constitutional law.
• Law in relation to authority, responsibilities and obligations of public officials, administrative boards and agencies.
• County administrative procedures, ordinances and rules.
• Conducting hearings before administrative tribunals.

Ability to:

• Perform legal research.
• Analyze, appraise, and apply legal principles, facts and precedents to legal problems.
• Present oral and written statements of fact, law and argument in a clear and logical manner.
• Analyze situations accurately and adopt an effective course of action.
• Prepare legal correspondence, reports and budgets.
• Supervise mentor and train less experienced attorneys.
• Exercise good judgment, make sound decisions on legal casework and in dealing with people.
• Work effectively with executive staff of the Office of the County Counsel in carrying out duties.
• Listen for the sensitive and political issues/considerations underlying requests for legal assistance from clients.
• Respond to various interpersonal reactions of clients, judges and attorneys in a sensitive and tactful manner.
• Frame oral and written comments or argument appropriately within a sensitive and political environment.
• Provide direction, mentoring and training to less experienced attorneys in a positive and effective manner.

The examination will consist of the following steps:

1. A review of candidates' application to verify possession of minimum requirements.  Those candidates who possess the minimum requirements for the class will move on to the next step in the examination process.
2. A review of the supplemental questionnaire to determine the best qualified.
3. An oral interview which will be weighted as 100% of the candidates' final examination score.  The oral interview may contain situational exercises.

Candidates must attain a qualifying rating on each portion of this recruitment. 

WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO MAKE CHANGES TO THE ANNOUNCED EXAMINATION STEPS.

Alameda County utilizes a Civil Service Selection System founded on merit.  Such a system is competitive and based on broad recruitment efforts and equal opportunity for qualified applicants to test in an examination process designed to determine the qualifications, fitness and ability of competitors to perform duties of the vacant position.  Many of our recruitments are targeted and specific to the needs of a current vacant position, in which case, the eligible list may be exclusively used for that current vacant position.  Other recruitments may be more broadly used for both current and future vacancies, or for other alternate jobs with comparable scopes of work.

To learn more about our recruitment and selection process, please visit the “What You Need to Know” section of our website, www.acgov.org/hrs.

Applicants will be informed via email with reasonable notice in advance of any examination process which will require their attendance.  The following dates are tentative and subject to change based on the needs of the Agency:

TENTATIVE SELECTION PLAN

Deadline for Filing:	5:00 p.m., Monday, September 9, 2019
Review of Minimum Qualifications:	by Monday, September 16, 2019
Review of Supplemental Questionnaire for Best Qualified:	by Friday, September 20, 2019
Oral Interviews*:	Week of October 14, 2019

*If designated as a combined oral examination/hiring interview, in addition to establishing an eligibility list, the oral interviews may serve as the final selection interview for vacancies in this classification.

Alameda County and the Human Resource Services Department will make reasonable efforts in the examination and/or selection process to accommodate qualified individuals with disabilities and/or medical conditions in accordance/compliance with the State Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), Federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Alameda County’s Reasonable Accommodation Policy and applicable statutes.  To request an accommodation due to a disability/medical condition during this or other phases of the examination/selection process, please contact the assigned Human Resources Representative listed on the job announcement before the last date of filing.   Alameda County requires applicants to provide supporting documentation to substantiate a request for reasonable accommodation. In order to qualify for a reasonable accommodation, applicants must have a disability/medical condition pursuant to the ADA, FEHA and applicable statutes.

For more information regarding our Reasonable Accommodation procedures, please visit our website, www.acgov.org/hrs.

Alameda County offers a comprehensive and competitive benefits package that affords wide-ranging health care options to meet the different needs of a diverse workforce and their families. We also sponsor many different employee discount, fitness and health screening programs focused on overall well being.  These benefits include but are not limited to*:

For your Health & Well-Being

• Medical – HMO & PPO Plans
• Dental – HMO & PPO Plans
• Vision or Vision Reimbursement
• Share the Savings
• Basic Life Insurance 
• Supplemental Life Insurance (with optional dependent coverage for eligible employees)
• Accidental Death and Dismemberment Insurance 
• County Allowance Credit
• Flexible Spending Accounts - Health FSA, Dependent Care and Adoption Assistance
• Short-Term Disability Insurance
• Long-Term Disability Insurance
• Voluntary Benefits - Accident Insurance, Critical Illness, Hospital Indemnity and Legal Services
• Employee Assistance Program

For your Financial Future

• Retirement Plan - (Defined Benefit Pension Plan)
• Deferred Compensation Plan (457 Plan or Roth Plan)

For your Work/Life Balance

• 11 paid holidays
• Floating Holidays
• Vacation and sick leave accrual
• Vacation purchase program
• Management Paid Leave**
• Catastrophic Sick Leave
• Employee Mortgage Loan Program
• Group Auto/Home Insurance
• Pet Insurance
• Commuter Benefits Program
• Guaranteed Ride Home
• Employee Wellness Program (e.g. At Work Fitness, Incentive Based Programs, Gym Membership Discounts)
• Employee Discount Program (e.g. theme parks, cell phone, etc.)
• Child Care Resources
• 1^st United Services Credit Union 

*Eligibility is determined by Alameda County and offerings may vary by collective bargaining agreement.  This provides a brief summary of the benefits offered and can be subject to change.

** Non-exempt management employees are entitled to up to three days of management paid leave. Exempt management employees are entitled to up to seven days of management paid leave.

All notices related to County recruitments for which you have applied will be sent/delivered via email. Please add @acgov.org and alamedacountyHR@acgov.org as accepted addresses to any email blocking or spam filtering program you may use. If you do not do this, your email blocking or spam filtering program may block receipt of the notices regarding your application for recruitments. You are also strongly advised to regularly log into your County of Alameda online application account to check for notices that may have been sent to you. All email notices that will be sent to you will also be kept in your personal online application account. You will be able to view all of your notices in your online application account by clicking on the 'My applications' button on the Current Job Openings page.

Please take the steps recommended above to ensure you do not miss any notices about a recruitment for which you have applied. The County of Alameda is not responsible for notices that are not read, received or accessed by any applicant for a County recruitment.

NOTE: All notices are generated through an automated email notification system. Replies to the email box alamedacountyHR@acgov.org are routed to an unmonitored mailbox. If you have questions please go to our website at www.acgov.org/hrs. You may also contact the Human Resources Analyst listed on the bulletin for the recruitment for which you have applied.

Monique Hill, Personnel Services Manager
Human Resource Services, County of Alameda
Email:  Monique.Hill@acgov.org Telephone: (510) 208-4841

 

Alameda County has a diverse workforce, that is representative of the communities we serve, and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer.  All aspects of employment are based on merit, competence, performance and business need. Alameda County does not discriminate in employment on the basis of, race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, retaliation, parental status, military service, or other non-merit factors protected under federal, state and local law. Alameda County celebrates diversity and is committed to creating an inclusive, and welcoming workplace environment.