Position Summary
Agency 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.
Job Summary
The City Prosecutor through the Office of the City Prosecutor (OCP) handles a wide range of civil ordinance enforcement litigation matters on behalf of the City-County agencies. The incumbent is directly responsible for assisting with the supervision of the day-to-day work of two Senior Attorneys, two Assistant City Prosecutors and two paralegals. The City Prosecutor serves within the City’s Office of Corporation Counsel (OCC), which is the legal department for the City-County government.
Equal Employment Opportunity
The City of Indianapolis Marion County is an equal opportunity employer . All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran, or disability status. We value diversity in perspectives and experiences among colleagues and the residents of this city of whom we serve.
Position Responsibilities
The City Prosecutor is a working manager, combining an active litigation caseload with management responsibilities for a division of the Office of Corporation Counsel (OCC).
The City Prosecutor represents the City-County and related agencies in civil litigation matters in ordinance enforcement in state court and in administrative hearings. The City Prosecutor may assist other OCC litigators on federal litigation resulting from a state court or administrative matter.
The City Prosecutor will be responsible for all facets of complex code enforcement prosecutions. This role includes preparing complaints, answers, and other pleadings; researching and filing motions and briefs; handling discovery and depositions; judicial hearings; settlement negotiations; and trial advocacy. As the leader of the OCP, the position holder will generally take lead responsibility on enforcement matters that are highly sensitive in nature, involve significant financial liability, implicate complex legal issues, or involve complicated discovery and case management challenges.
On other matters, the City Prosecutor plays a more direct role, handling some aspects of a case while another OCP attorney occupies the primary role. This high-level guidance includes strategic direction, client communications, communication with opposing counsel and review of all OCP attorneys’ work.
The City Prosecutor’s management role requires active supervision of the division’s team of attorneys and paralegals. Working in conjunction with the Deputy City Prosecutor, the City Prosecutor will be responsible for conducting regular check-ins with OCP attorneys, delegating responsibility and assigning case work as appropriate, and ensuring that the office as a whole professionally discharges its duties to clients.
The City Prosecutor sets the strategic direction for the OCP, which includes adopting internal policies and procedures to optimize the division's performance.
In conjunction with the Corporation Counsel and Deputy Corporation Counsel, the City Prosecutor will be responsible for communicating on matters involving ordinance enforcement with the City-County departments, agencies, Mayor’s Office and key stakeholders.
The list of duties and responsibilities is not intended to be all-inclusive and may be expanded to include other duties and responsibilities that management may deem necessary from time to time.
Skills Required
This position requires strong independent judgment and leadership abilities. This role requires willingness to take individual responsibility for weighty matters that affect lives and livelihoods of others. While support from other staff and department leadership is available, the City Prosecutor must have the confidence and good judgment to make decisions independently in a variety of settings and take responsibility for management of a team of attorneys and paralegals.
In-depth knowledge of litigation practice. The City Prosecutor is expected to be proficient in all aspects of the litigation and ordinance enforcement process, including legal writing, discovery, civil procedure, and substantive areas of the law that are frequently implicated by the office’s work, including trial practice procedures, constitutional law and government practice.
Strategic vision. The city Prosecutor is responsible for guiding individual cases, and for helping to shape the City-County’s approach to ordinance enforcement litigation-and litigation related risk- more generally. This duty requires a broad field of vision and the ability to understand the long-term implications of the office’s decisions.
Analytical ability and intellectual curiosity. This position faces a wide variety of legal issues and fact patterns. The City Prosecutor must rapidly digest new information, integrating it into an existing body of knowledge, and must adeptly use legal research and analysis to provide solutions to all issues raised in each litigation matter.
Proficiency at written and oral communication. This includes administrative proceedings, pre-trial hearings before judicial officers, or bench trials. The City Prosecutor must concisely and effectively communicate arguments, be adept at improvising and thinking on his/her feet and be able to adapt tone and messaging to the needs of different audiences in different settings.
Zealous advocacy. There will be enforcement matters handled by this position which will be high profile. The City Prosecutor must keep in mind that the client is ultimately the citizenry of Indianapolis and must treat the work with the attention and seriousness that it deserves.
Time management skills. Despite the City Prosecutor’s management role, he/she will also be responsible for a considerable caseload. Success in this position requires efficiency, strong time management, and the ability to prioritize the most pressing and 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, including the City Prosecutor and all employees the City Prosecutor supervises, 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 and familiarity with electronic filing and records management systems.
- Five years’ litigation experience in the practice of law as a licensed attorney in Indiana.
- Five years’ experience as an attorney within the City-County enterprise.
- Subject-matter expertise in local government organization, administrative proceedings and government practice.
- Management experience.
Preferred Job Requirements And Qualifications
- Significant professional experience in local government, law enforcement, or administrative procedure.
- Significant professional experience in communicating with non-attorney parties and stakeholders.
- Significant individual experience in authoring dispositive motions, oral advocacy or trials.
- Significant individual experience with the Revised Code of the City of Indianapolis and Marion County.