Position Summary
The Office of Corporation Counsel (OCC) provides legal services to the City and County through its three main divisions. First, OCC represents the City, County agencies, and City-County employees in litigation, handling a diverse docket that ranges from tort and contract matters to constitutional law. Second, through its counseling division, OCC provides legal advice to City and County agencies, officials, and oversight bodies to ensure that public entities remain compliant with the law and standards of ethical conduct, to safeguard public funds, and to promote the efficient functioning of local government for Marion County taxpayers. OCC’s third division is the Office of the City Prosecutor, which is responsible for enforcing City-County ordinances. OCC also oversees the Office of Equal Opportunity, which administers the City’s human rights ordinance, protecting against discrimination in employment and other contexts. In exercising these crucial legal functions, OCC cultivates a productive, collaborative, and compliant work environment that prioritizes the needs of our clients and the residents of Indianapolis and Marion County.
The holder of this position will handle a wide range of general legal matters on behalf of City-County agencies, with a focus on more complex or high-stakes matters that require significant professional experience and/or subject-matter expertise. The incumbent will also share responsibility for managing a team of counseling attorneys and supervising more junior attorneys and members of support staff. The position holder will serve within the counseling division of OCC.
Position Responsibilities
The Deputy Chief Counsel is a working manager, combining an active workload of general legal matters with management responsibilities.
The primary responsibility of a Deputy Chief Counsel is to assist with training, supervising, and mentoring assistant corporation counsels and support staff as well as to represent the City-County and related agencies in general legal matters.
The position holder will be responsible to represent and assist City-County clients with their general legal matters. This may include preparing and reviewing contracts, leases, and other transactional documents; representing City-County clients at Board and Commission meetings; researching and answering general legal questions and providing advisory opinions; and drafting ordinances, reviewing legislation and handling other legislative matters. This position holder will also assist the Chief Counsel and the Corporation Counsel in section-wide strategic planning and may perform the duties of the Chief Counsel when the Chief Counsel is absent.
The Deputy Chief Counsel will take responsibility for more complex and sensitive legal issues and may provide review and guidance to other attorneys with difficult matters.
The Deputy Chief Counsel’s management role requires active supervision of a team of counseling attorneys and senior counseling attorneys, a compliance officer, paralegals, and office administrative staff. Working in conjunction with the Chief Counsel, the Deputy Chief Counsel will be responsible for conducting regular check-ins with more junior attorneys, delegating responsibility and assigning work as appropriate, and ensuring that the office as a whole professionally discharges its duties to clients. The Deputy Chief Counsel, alongside other senior management personnel, will set the strategic direction for the Counseling section, which includes adopting internal policies and procedures to optimize the section’s performance.
The Deputy Chief Counsel position also involves the following additional responsibilities:
- Keeping clients, including senior agency staff and elected officials, fully informed on matters affecting their agencies.
- Advising clients and colleagues in the Office of Corporation Counsel on compliance with law and the avoidance of future litigation risk.
- Preparing advisory opinions and memos on general legal matters, at the request of the Corporation Counsel or client agencies.
- Representing City-County agencies in Board or Commission meetings or similar settings.
- Keeping apprised of relevant legal developments at the state and federal level.
- In conjunction with the Litigation section, providing advice to client agencies regarding litigation strategy and settlement negotiations.
- Overseeing the support work of the Counseling staff team, including paralegals, the compliance officer, and office assistants.
- Performing the duties of the Chief Counsel when the Chief Counsel is absent or has delegated such duties.
- Performing other duties as assigned by the Chief Counsel or the Corporation Counsel.
Skills Required
Strong independent judgment. This role requires willingness to take individual responsibility for weighty matters that affect the lives and livelihoods of others. While support from other staff and department leadership is available, Deputy Chief Counsels must have the confidence and good judgment to make decisions independently in a variety of settings.
In-depth knowledge of transactional practice.Senior attorneys, including the Deputy Chief Counsel and unlike more junior front-line attorneys, are expected to be proficient in representing clients in a wide and diverse array of general legal matters, including drafting and advising, and substantive areas of the law that are frequently implicated by the office’s work, including contract, administrative, employment, land use, and constitutional law.
Strategic vision.The Deputy Chief Counsel is responsible not only for representing clients and guiding junior attorneys, but for helping to shape the City-County’s approach to client service and needs more generally. This duty requires a broad field of vision, extensive experience in the practice of law, and the ability to understand the long-term implications of the office’s decisions.
Leadership ability.This position often involves managing the work of more junior attorneys and other staff members. The Deputy Chief Counsel must be able to provide useful guidance, meaningfully delegate responsibility, and promote a collegial, respectful work environment.
Analytical ability and intellectual curiosity.This position faces a wide variety of legal issues. While Counseling attorneys are encouraged to develop areas of expertise over time, the position requires rapidly digesting new information, integrating it into an existing body of knowledge, and adeptly using legal research tools to acquire mastery of all the issues raised by each matter as it arises. Deputy Chief Counsels will also be called upon to determine alternative legal and administrative approaches to solving problems.
Proficiency at legal writing and other written communication.Counseling attorneys must be particularly adept at working with and informally communicating with clients and other City-County leaders and staff. This position will also require more formal work product like preparation of contracts, leases, ordinances and resolutions, and formal advisory opinions.
Oral communications skills.This includes providing advice in meetings and conferences; communicating in a clear and concise manner, as well as explaining complex legal issues to non-lawyers. Counseling attorneys must be adept at improvising and thinking on the spot and be able to adapt their tone and messaging to the needs of different audiences in different settings.
Zealous advocacy.Many of the general legal matters handled by this position will be important, both operationally and financially. Position holders must keep in mind that their client is ultimately the public and must treat their work with the attention and seriousness that it deserves.
Time management skills.Despite their management role, Deputy Chief Counsels are responsible for considerable workloads. Success in the position requires efficiency, strong time management, and the ability to prioritize the most pressing or important tasks.
Ethics and professionalism.Holders of this position are public servants, and so are their clients. All attorneys at the Office of Corporation Counsel are expected to uphold the highest standards of professional ethics and responsible advocacy.
Qualifications
Minimum Job Requirements and Qualifications
- Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D.) from an ABA-accredited law school.
- Valid license to practice law in Indiana.
- Proficiency in legal research tools, including Westlaw.
- At least five years’ experience in the practice of law as a licensed attorney (may include a judicial clerkship), OR at least two years’ experience as a Counseling attorney with the Office of Corporation Counsel.
- Subject-matter expertise or significant work experience in one or more areas of Counseling practice: contracts, real estate, employment, land use, tax, environmental law, public safety, legal drafting, and/or administrative and regulatory matters.
Preferred Job Requirements And Qualifications
- Five or more years’ experience as a practicing attorney in Indiana.
- Management experience.
- Significant professional experience (as an attorney or non-attorney) in local government or administrative procedure.
- Significant individual experience in advising, drafting, researching and counseling clients.
