State of Maryland

A Social Services Attorney III provides trial attorney work, legal advice and other legal services to meet the programmatic needs of the Baltimore City Department of Social Services in the Maryland Department of Human Services.  Employees in this classification do not supervise other positions but may provide advice and guidance to less experienced Attorneys.

Employees in this classification receive general supervision from a higher-level Attorney.

Positions in this classification are evaluated by using the classification job evaluation methodology.  The use of this method involves comparing the assigned duties and responsibilities of a position to the job criteria found in the Nature of Work and Examples of Work sections of the class specification.

The Social Services Attorney I, Social Services Attorney II and Social Services Attorney III are differentiated on the basis of degree of supervisory control exercised by the supervisor over these employees.  The Social Services Attorney I performs duties under close supervision.  The Social Services Attorney II performs duties under close supervision at times and under general supervision at other times depending on the complexity of the specific duty being performed.  The Social Services Attorney III performs the full range of duties and responsibilities under general supervision.  The Social Services Attorney III is differentiated from the Social Services Attorney Supervisor in that the Social Services Attorney Supervisor has supervisory responsibility for lower-level Social Services Attorneys.

Represents the Baltimore City Department of Social Services in courts of law and before the Office of Administrative Hearings and other administrative agencies regarding issues such as Child and Adult Protective Services, Foster Care, Termination of Parental Rights, and Confidentiality of Agency Records;

Provides legal advice and training to Department of Social Services staff regarding matters such as Child and Adult Protective Services, Foster Care, Services to Families with Children, Termination of Parental Rights, and Confidentiality of Agency records;

Reviews case files and interviews and confers with clients, witnesses and experts in order to obtain information and determine relevant factual and legal issues in preparation for trial or other legal action;

May act as Senior Attorney when paired with an Attorney who is less experienced regarding the issues of an assigned case;

Performs other related duties.

Education:   A Juris Doctor degree or equivalent degree from an accredited school of law.

Experience: Experience as a practicing Attorney.

Notes:

1. Candidates for this classification must be members of the Maryland Bar at the time of appointment.

2. The above requirements are set by the Department of Human Services in accordance with an Opinion of the Attorney General dated June 13, 1988.

3. Candidates may substitute U.S. Armed Forces military service experience as a commissioned officer in General Attorney classifications or General Attorney specialty codes in the Legal and Kindred field of work on a year-for-year basis for the required education and experience.

Class Descriptions are broad descriptions covering groups of positions used by various State departments and agencies.  Position descriptions maintained by the using department or agency specifically address the essential job functions of each position.

Class Descriptions provide information about the Nature of Work, Examples of Work, General Requirements and Acknowledgements.  The Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities; Minimum Education and Experience Requirements; Special Requirements; and recruitment and testing procedures are set by the using agency.

This is a Professional Service classification in the State Personnel Management System.  All positions in this classification are Professional Service positions.  Some positions in Professional Service classifications may be designated as Special Appointment in accordance with the State Personnel and Pensions Article, Section 6-405, Annotated Code of Maryland.

This classification is not assigned to a bargaining unit, as indicated by the designation of S (Supervisor), M (Manager), T (Agency Head), U (Board or Commission Member), W (Student), X (Used by Agency or Excluded by Executive Order), or Z (Confidential).  As provided by State Personnel and Pensions Article, Section 3-102, special appointment, temporary, contractual, supervisory, managerial and confidential employees are excluded from collective bargaining.  Additionally, certain executive branch agencies are exempt from collective bargaining and all positions in those agencies are excluded from collective bargaining.

This classification is one level in a Non-Competitive Promotion (NCP) series.  NCP promotions are promotions by which employees may advance in grade and class level from trainee to full performance level in a classification series. In order to be non-competitively promoted to the next level in a NCP series, an employee must: 1) perform the main purpose of the class, as defined by the Nature of Work section of the class specification; 2) receive the type of supervision defined in the class specification and 3) meet the minimum qualifications of the classification.