Chief Law Clerk

NYC Department of Housing Preservation & Development • Full-time • New York, NY, US • $93.60k - $113.30k / year • 3w ago

About Oath

The City of New York’s Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH) is the nation’s largest administrative tribunal, holding approximately 400,000 trials and hearings a year. As the City’s central, independent administrative law court, OATH adjudicates a wide range of matters filed by nearly every city agency, board and commission. OATH also houses the Center for Creative Conflict Resolution which provides mediation and restorative justice support to City government agencies and the general public, and the Administrative Judicial Institute, a resource center that provides training, continuing education, research and support services for administrative law judges and hearing officers.

Job Description

The OATH Trials Division seeks to hire a Chief Law Clerk to head its legal research unit. The unit consists of Law Clerks, Fellows and interns who provide legal research and writing support to the OATH Administrative Law Judges in relation to all matters that come before the OATH Trials Division tribunal. The Chief Law Clerk serves as both the lead legal research resource for the Administrative Law Judges as well as the supervisor of a team of Law Clerks, Fellows, and interns.

As a manager, the Chief Law Clerk, under the supervision of the Chief Administrative Law Judge and Supervising Administrative Law Judge and other judges of OATH, will oversee the work of the unit, including receiving legal research and writing assignments from the Administrative Law Judges, maintaining an organized docket of such requests, distributing the assignments to the Law Clerks, Fellows, and interns, in a fair and efficient manner, setting deadlines, and tracking progress to ensure the work is timely completed. The Chief Law Clerk reviews the assigned written work product to ensure it is clear, accurate, and comprehensive before forwarding it to the Administrative Law Judge. The Chief Law Clerk is also responsible for supervising, training, and coaching the unit members, ensuring the work product is consistent and high quality, providing unit members with feedback and performance evaluations, communicating with the Administrative Law Judges and other senior staff regarding the work of the legal research unit and its members, and other day-to-day management of the team.

The Chief Law Clerk is also responsible for managing information, including current and past research assignments and memoranda, for reference by the team and the Administrative Law Judges. The Chief Law Clerk will also prepare written communication informing law clerks and ALJs of changes and developments in relevant laws, rules, and policies.

In addition to performing these supervisory and management duties, the Chief Law Clerk, as needed, will contribute to the unit’s substantive work by conducting legal research related to statutory and regulatory issues; writing summaries and analyses of parties’ legal arguments, presentations of facts, and exhibits; writing draft reports and recommendations and memorandum decisions for review by the Administrative Law Judges.

Further Responsibilities Include

Participating in group meetings and discussions with the Administrative Law Judges and Law Clerks, Fellows, and interns;
Editing and directing the publication of OATH Trial’s monthly newsletter, Bench NOTES and summarizing cases for that newsletter and for other publications, such as The New York Law Journal, and overseeing publication of cases in the CityAdmin online legal research library and Lexis;
Acting as a liaison among the parties, the OATH Calendar Unit, and Administrative Law Judges in Contract Dispute Resolution Board matters, including by scheduling conferences and oral arguments and drafting outlines to help the Administrative Law Judges prepare their cases; and assisting in the preparation of personnel paperwork for hiring staff; tracking casework, progress, and resolution of cases; reviewing submissions, drafting legal memoranda, organizing conferences and oral arguments, and communicating with parties, the Chairperson, and panelists;
Overseeing Loft Board case administration, assigning cases, and assisting judges with notices, decisions, orders, and tracking casework, progress, and resolution of cases;
Handling additional special assignments and projects as needed, including but not limited to oral and/or written presentations and updating internal databases and guides, as well as drafting and editing legal training materials, website entries, and case and rule annotations online;
Proofreading and cite-checking draft reports and recommendations and memorandum decisions;
Evaluating staff;
Communicating with other units and divisions of OATH, such as the General Counsel’s Office, including assisting in collecting materials in response to FOIL requests for the Trials Division; and the works with OATH data analysts and Open Data managers as well as the Communications Division;
Performing legal research related to statutory and regulatory issues, including reviewing state and federal court caselaw and OATH Trials Division precedent;
Reviewing parties’ legal arguments, presentations of facts, and exhibits and writing legal memoranda and draft reports and recommendations and memorandum decisions, including decisions on motions, for review by the Administrative Law Judges; reviewing staff law clerks’ work and providing feedback and corrections to meet highest quality work standards;
Participating in meetings and discussions with other law clerks and the Administrative Law Judges;
Maintaining an organized docket of assignments and meeting deadlines assigned by the Administrative Law Judges and ensuring that staff law clerks do the same;
Maintaining confidentiality of information kept by OATH as required by law and policy;
Maintaining and supervising law clerks in maintaining and updating OATH’s electronic files and libraries, as well as overseeing the uploading of OATH decisions and case history, including final agency determinations, and appellate decisions affecting OATH decisions;
Responding to requests for information regarding OATH records, transcripts, and other materials maintained by OATH;
Coordinating and providing training to judges and law clerks, and developing legal and other skills to assist with the needs of the office;
Researching OATH data and preparing and editing spreadsheets based on that data; noting any need for corrections for colleagues in the Calendar Unit or other units and divisions of OATH.

Please note: Incumbents must remain members of the New York State Bar in good standing for the duration of this employment.

HYBRID OFFICE / REMOTE WORK SCHEDULE AVAILABLE AFTER INITIAL TRAINING PERIOD, SUBJECT TO THE NEEDS OF THE TRIBUNAL

Minimum Qualifications

Admission to the New York State Bar; and either "2" or "3" below.
One year of satisfactory United States legal experience subsequent to admission to any state bar; or
Six months of satisfactory service as an Agency Attorney Interne (30086).

Incumbents must remain Members of the New York State Bar in good standing for the duration of this employment.

In Addition To Meeting The Minimum Qualification Requirements

To be assigned to Assignment Level (AL) II, candidates must have one year of experience at Assignment Level I or two years of comparable legal experience subsequent to admission to the bar, in the areas of law related to the assignment. To be assigned to AL III candidates must have two years of experience in Assignment Levels I and/or II or three years of comparable legal experience subsequent to admission to the bar, in the areas of law related to the assignment.

Preferred Skills

Preferred Skills 1. Three years of experience in a supervisory role with responsibility for basic management duties (performance, training, coaching, substantive work review), including overseeing a team and reporting up to senior staff. 2. Familiarity with administrative proceedings (preferably with OATH, but not required), judicial proceedings, court processes, and/or state or municipal government. 3. Demonstrated background in administrative law. 4. Excellent writing, legal research, and analytical skills, preferably in a judicial context (but not required). 5. Strong oral communication skills, including the ability to liaise with internal staff and external stakeholders. 6. Knowledge of Microsoft Word, Excel, and Outlook. Knowledge of legal and court case management software such as Law Manager is a plus.

Public Service Loan Forgiveness

As a prospective employee of the City of New York, you may be eligible for federal loan forgiveness programs and state repayment assistance programs. For more information, please visit the U.S. Department of Education’s website at https://studentaid.gov/pslf/.

Residency Requirement

New York City Residency is not required for this position

Additional Information

The City of New York is an inclusive equal opportunity employer committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce and providing a work environment that is free from discrimination and harassment based upon any legally protected status or protected characteristic, including but not limited to an individual's sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, gender identity, or pregnancy.