Career Opportunity

8182-Head Attorney, Civil And Criminal (Managing Attorney)

Recruitment: RTF0139760-01096446

Published: September 22, 2023

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

About:

The San Francisco District Attorney's Office is one of the premier law enforcement organizations in the United States.  Our mission is to collaborate with the City’s diverse communities and law enforcement agencies to make San Francisco one of the safest cities in America.  Our office engages in public education and crime prevention efforts while maintaining the traditional role of investigating, charging, and prosecuting all criminal violations occurring within the City and County of San Francisco.  The unparalleled opportunities for challenging, meaningful, and sophisticated work have consistently drawn top candidates to our office over the years.

Role description

Appointment Type: Permanent-Exempt (PEX) Appointment. Pursuant to the City & County of San Francisco Charter, Section 10.104.13. Any person occupying a position under exempt appointment shall not be subject to civil service selection, appointment, and removal procedures. Exempt employees shall serve at the pleasure of the appointing officer.

Role Description
Intake is one of the most crucial units in the office, requiring command of the penal code, evidence code, and keeping abreast of caselaw. Additionally, the position requires trial experience and the judgment to understand if a case can be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. This assignment requires regularly interfacing with Law Enforcement Agencies to identify early case deficiencies and working to resolve them in short rebooking timeframes.

Under general administrative direction from the Chief of the Criminal Division, the Managing Attorney performs the most difficult and responsible professional legal work in the District Attorney's Office in connection with the prosecution of involved and important civil and criminal cases; assigns, supervises, and reviews the work of subordinate attorneys; and performs related duties as required. The Managing Attorney is responsible for the supervision of Intake staff, writing and conducting performance reviews, and providing performance feedback and coaching. This position requires major responsibility for interpreting, carrying out, and assisting in the development of methods and procedures relative to the legal processes of the office in which assigned; making regular responsible contacts with other legal personnel, court officials, law enforcement agencies, and outside organizations relative to assigned legal matters; preparing and reviewing extremely complex and important legal instruments and documents in connection with assigned cases.

Additionally, the Managing Attorney position will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
•Proacively demand additional investigation and workup in advance of re-booking deadlines so INTAKE makes only the most informed charging decisions;
•Staff multiple in-person and virtual meetings with LEA’s, and community stakeholders, and be prepared for “forward-facing” work within the community;
•Promote innovative workflows that free up paralegal resources (e.g., Transition INTAKE to charging cases in e-Prosecutor to eliminate PINK);
•Lead statutorily required PC 741 blind-charging project into 2023 and beyond;
•Continue to improve the quality of charging by training intake paralegals to order additional case work-up and discovery;
•Review and rebook the most complex cases and proactively develop case strategies that advance victim's safety regardless of whether the case can be charged;
•Ensure thorough documentation when cases are declined, and explain those decisions internally and externally;
• Ensure case notes, detention motions, motions to consolidate, and booking photos are included where necessary in every charged case;
• Ensure the earliest possible ac􀆟on of VWA advocates regardless of whether a case can be charged;
• Rebook vehicular manslaughters for charging;
• Troubleshoot and constantly seek INTAKE improvements;
• Daily assignment of cases (both rebookings & warrants). Evenly distribute cases as well as ‘complicated’ cases;
• Advise other units (VVU, DV, CASA, MCU, SPU) as promptly as possible of incoming cases fi􀆫ng their rebooking criteria;
• Charge overflow from other units and assign accordingly;
• Liaise with SFPD Fugitive Detail. Advise which fugitives should be returned and which warrants should be designated ‘California only;’
• Early-hours triage of INTAKE workload;
• Manage victim and LEA expectations who may disagree with INTAKE charging decisions;
• Liaise with JUSTIS partners to resolve technical and database issues;
• Point of contact for Paralegal Charging Supervisors for corrections and clarifications of charging documents.
• Manage Post-Conviction Unit (PCU), including identifying coverage/staffing for Parole Court, MTR Courts (Dep. 21 and Dep. 26 Fridays), Restitution Court (Monday-Thursday), Expungements/Mo􀆟ons for Factual Innocence/PC 290 Relief, and LIFER Hearings.
 

How to qualify

Minimum Qualifications
Experience: Ten (10) years of progressively responsible experience as a practicing attorney, with emphasis on jury trial and courtroom work, including at least two (2) years of responsible supervisory experience.
License and Certification: Active membership in good standing with the State Bar of California.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
Knowledge of: state and federal and municipal codes, laws, and ordinances, particularly as applied to civil and criminal laws; legal processes and techniques of courtroom and jury trial work; administrative techniques and methods, particularly as they relate to the activities of the District Attorney's Office.
Ability or Skill to: speak and write effectively in the preparation and presentation of assigned legal cases; exercise considerable judgment and tact in dealing with court officials, juries, law enforcement agencies and other governmental agencies in connection with legal assignments.

What else should I know?

How to apply:

All applicants are required to submit the following supplemental materials in a single Word or PDF file along with their application:

• Cover Letter
• Resume

Applications will be screened for relevant qualifying experience.  Additional screening mechanisms may be implemented in order to determine candidates’ qualifications.  Only those applicants who most closely meet the needs of the Department will be invited to participate in the selection process.  Applicants meeting the minimum qualifications are not guaranteed advancement in the process.  Additional supplemental materials may be requested during the recruitment process. 

Salary Range commensurates with experience: $220,142 - $267,566 annually

Interested candidates should apply by no later than 5:00 PM on Friday, October 6, 2023.

Contact: Shavaun Tolliver, Principal Human Resources Analyst (628) 652-4040

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.