Career Opportunity

Law Fellow- September/October 2024- City Attorney's Office (8175)

Recruitment: REF32115L

Published: September 19, 2023

Apply using SmartRecruiters, the City and County of San Francisco's application portal Learn More

About:

Category 18 -Temporary Exempt position, special project-based position limited to no more than 3 years in duration. This position is excluded by the Charter from the competitive Civil Service examination process, is considered "at will" and shall serve at the discretion of the Department Head.

Application Opening: September 18, 2023

Application Deadline: Continuous, earliest close 5:00p.m. October 9, 2023

Compensation Range: $127,972-$135,070

The Law Fellow position has a 2-step salary scale, with a current step 1 salary of $127,972 and a step 2 salary of $135,070. The successful applicant is appointed to salary step 1 if they are not admitted to practice law in California, and step 2 if they are admitted to practice law in California. A fellow appointed at step 1 will move to step 2 when they are admitted to practice law in California, if that occurs during the fellowship year.

Recruitment ID: RTF0139550-01155433

About the Office: The San Francisco City Attorney’s Office (Office) is an innovative, nationally-recognized municipal law office working to protect and advance the rights and interests of the City and County of San Francisco and its residents. With over 300 talented, dedicated, and diverse employees, the Office provides exceptional legal services to the City’s Mayor, Board of Supervisors, officials, and departments. Our work empowers the City’s public servants with effective, responsive, and creative legal solutions and representation so they can deliver critical public services and our affirmative advocacy enhances the lives and wellbeing of San Francisco’s residents and visitors.

The Office recognizes that diversity in the backgrounds, identities, ideas, and lived experiences of our employees enriches our workplace and enhances our work. We aspire to recruit, employ, retain, and promote talented individuals representing the full spectrum of our community, and welcome all candidates, including candidates of any race, religion, national origin, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, and age, and candidates with disabilities. We have a clear vision: to be the place where a diverse mix of people want to come and stay, grow professionally, and find purpose and engagement, and where all employees feel welcomed and respected for their full authentic selves, and valued for their work and contributions to the Office and the City. To learn more about the Office’s efforts to provide an inclusive workplace where employees feel they belong and can meaningfully contribute, please click here.

The Office offers a hybrid remote work schedule for eligible employees, with three days onsite and up to two days remote.

To learn more about the City Attorney’s Office please visit: https://www.sfcityattorney.org/

Role description

The San Francisco City Attorney’s Office (Office) is launching its inaugural Law Fellow Program, which will provide a unique and rewarding one-year professional opportunity for a recent law school graduate to gain exposure to and direct experience in a specific aspect of municipal law practice. The Office has one position for the year. The successful applicant must be available for full-time work beginning September/October 2024 and the fellowship position ends after approximately one year (specific dates to be determined based on the successful applicant’s schedule and the Law Fellow Program annual cycle).

The Law Fellow position is open to the following individuals (eligibility criteria):

• Recent graduates of a law school at an HBCU (Historically Black College and University).
• Recent graduates of the Legal Education Opportunity Program (LEOP) offered at UC Law San Francisco.
• Recent law school graduates who come from disadvantaged educational, economic, social, or physical backgrounds, as established through a personal background statement.
• The term “recent graduate” means someone who graduated from law school in 2023 or who will graduate by June 2024, or graduated in 2022 and participated in a clerkship or fellowship program. An applicant selected for the position who expects to graduate by June 2024 must successfully graduate to be appointed.
• An applicant does not need to be admitted to practice law in California to apply for or be appointed to the Law Fellow position.

Our Law Fellow will receive on-the-job training, a direct role in legal research, writing, and other aspects of the specific practice area, career development programming, and mentorship advice from experienced deputies in our Office.

Applicants can propose a fellowship on any of the Office’s legal teams, including: Child & Family/Conservatorship; Code Enforcement; Complex & Affirmative Litigation; Government & Government Litigation; Health & Human Services; Labor & Employment; Land Use; Litigation; Port; Real Estate & Public Finance; Tax; Transportation; and Worker Protection. The selected applicant will spend the full year with the team to which they applied. Applicants can learn more about these teams and our other teams here: https://www.sfcityattorney.org/aboutus/legal-teams/. 

How to qualify

An applicant must be available for full-time work beginning September/October 2024. An applicant does not need to be admitted to practice law in California to apply for or be appointed to the Law Fellow position.

Desired Qualifications

• Demonstrated interest in public service.
• Demonstrated interest in the specific practice area for which the applicant has applied.
• Strong writing skills.
• Commitment to valuing diversity and contributing to an inclusive working and learning environment.

Application Procedure

To apply for this position, interested applicants must submit the following materials:

• Resume
• Application essay not to exceed three pages, which should cover:
  • the team in which the applicant is interested and the basis for the applicant’s interest in that practice area and the Law Fellow position generally, and
  • information about the applicant as it relates to the desired qualifications for the position, above, and the selection criteria, below.
• At least one writing sample
• Law school transcript or other proof of graduation
• At least one letter of recommendation or a reference the Office can contact and
• Documentation establishing eligibility for the Law Fellow position, based on the criteria in this announcement. If applying as a recent law school graduate who comes from a disadvantaged educational, economic, social, or physical background, please submit a personal background statement. See below for content of this statement.

Selection Considerations

The Office will select the successful candidate based on all aspects of an applicant’s background, including:

• Demonstrated commitment to or interest in public service and the specific practice area for which the applicant has applied;
• A record of accomplishment, such as: academic achievement; leadership positions; law journal experience or other publications; or achievement in moot court or mock trial;
• Strong writing skills, including clarity, content, and skill of presentation in the personal statement(s);
• Past employment or other relevant experience, including internships and externships; clinical experience; or extracurricular activities that relate to public service or municipal law; and
• Any other work or life experiences that could bring a unique perspective to the work of the Office.

The Office will also consider the operational needs of the teams in which the applicants are interested.

Content of Personal Background Statement

For recent law school graduates applying because they meet the eligibility requirement of coming from a disadvantaged educational, economic, social, or physical background, your personal background statement should cover the following topics, as applicable, in whichever order, length, and narrative structure you wish to present this information.

1. Your family’s financial situation from birth to law school entry, including sources of income, income estimates, number of household wage earners, number of dependents, and any unusual expenses.
2. The occupation(s) and educational background(s) of the person(s) who raised you.
3. Your early educational experiences through high school, including the expectation level of and support for educational and career achievement in your family and community, and the impact, if any, those expectations had on your education?
4. Your source(s) of financial support through law school, including family, employment, loans, grants/scholarships, or other assistance.
5. Any paid or unpaid test preparation, academic support, or tutorial services you have used since elementary school.
6. The community(ies) with which you identify and/or in which you resided from birth to age of college entry. Describe any bias you faced as a member of such community(ies) and explain what impact, if any, it had on your academic performance.
7. Whether you are an immigrant or the child of immigrant parents, and if so, the country of origin, year of arrival in the U.S., and the reason for immigrating.
8. If English is not your first language, your age when you first learned English and whether English was the primary language spoken in your home.
9. Whether you had any learning or physical disability that may have adversely affected your academic performance, and if so, the accommodations, if any, you were provided in high school, college and law school.

Verification

Applicants may be required to submit verification of qualifying education and experience at any point during the recruitment and selection process. If education verification is required, information on how to verify education requirements, including verifying foreign education credits or degree equivalency, can be found at https://sfdhr.org/how-verify-education-requirements”

Note: Falsifying one’s education, training, or work experience or attempted deception on the application may result in disqualification for this and future job opportunities with the City and County of San Francisco.

All work experience, education, training and other information substantiating how you meet the minimum qualifications must be included on your application by the filing deadline. Information submitted after the filing deadline will not be considered in determining whether you meet the minimum qualifications.

Resumes will not be accepted in lieu of a completed City and County of San Francisco application.

Applications completed improperly may be cause for ineligibility, disqualification or may lead to lower scores.

What else should I know?

Additional Information Regarding Employment with the City and County of San Francisco:

• Information About the Hiring Process
• Conviction History
• Employee Benefits Overview  
• Equal Employment Opportunity 
• Disaster Service Worker
• ADA Accommodation
• Veterans Preference
• Right to Work
• Copies of Application Documents
• Diversity Statement

HOW TO APPLY

Applications for City and County of San Francisco jobs are only accepted through an online process. Visit https://careers.sf.gov/ and begin the application process.

• Select the “Apply Now” button and follow instructions on the screen

Applicants may be contacted by email about this recruitment and, therefore, it is their responsibility to ensure that their registered email address is accurate and kept up-to-date. Also, applicants must ensure that email from CCSF is not blocked on their computer by a spam filter. To prevent blocking, applicants should set up their email to accept CCSF mail from the following addresses (@sfgov.org, @sfdpw.org, @sfport.com, @flysfo.com, @sfwater.org, @sfdph.org, @asianart.org, @sfmta.com, @sfpl.org, @dcyf.org, @first5sf.org, @famsf.org, @ccsf.edu, @smartalerts.info, and @smartrecruiters.com).

Applicants will receive a confirmation email that their online application has been received in response to every announcement for which they file. Applicants should retain this confirmation email for their records. Failure to receive this email means that the online application was not submitted or received.

Human Resources Analyst Information: If you have any questions regarding this recruitment or application process, please send your inquires to Nikki Chew, Sr. HR Analyst at nikki.chew@sfcityatty.org.

The City and County of San Francisco encourages women, minorities and persons with disabilities to apply. Applicants will be considered regardless of their sex, race, age, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition (associated with cancer, a history of cancer, or genetic characteristics), HIV/AIDS status, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, military and veteran status, or other protected category under the law.