Assistant City Attorney

Why Tumwater?
Tumwater is more than just a city, it’s a vibrant community rooted in history and filled with opportunity. Located at the southern gateway to the Seattle-Tacoma metro area, Tumwater offers the perfect blend of small-town charm and big-picture vision.

Surrounded by the natural beauty of Puget Sound, prairie landscapes, rivers, and evergreen forests, we’re just over an hour from ocean beaches, the Olympic Peninsula, and Mount Rainier. Whether you’re into hiking, kayaking, brewery-hopping, or live music, you’ll find easy access to it all.

Here in Tumwater, we’re building a future that’s highly livable, connected, and inclusive. With safe neighborhoods, excellent schools, and a deep sense of civic pride, it’s not just a great place to live, it’s a great place to grow your career.

The essential functions of this position include, but are not limited to:

• Maintain current knowledge of laws, legislation, regulations, court cases and issues affecting municipal governments in areas relating to, but not limited to land use, building codes, environmental law, real estate transactions, property rights, public/private partnerships, public works, utility services, construction matters, labor, employment, civil service, public safety, public finance, code enforcement, ordinance and resolution preparation, municipal liability, public records disclosure, election issues, parliamentary procedure, public bidding and procurement, interlocal agreements, contract negotiations, court procedures and governmental relations.
• Provide legal advice and training on day-to-day legal issues affecting municipal government to elected officials, boards and commissions and staff both verbally and in writing, including advice and training to City departments on implementation of new laws and regulations.
• Research and provide legal analysis of issues arising during the development and implementation of city programs, projects, and policies including assessment of risks and alternatives. Research and writing should demonstrate thoughtful, reasoned analysis based on law and public policy as well as correct legal formatting and proper English grammar, spelling and punctuation.
• Attend and effectively and confidently communicate and participate in a variety of legislative, council, committee, board, commission and staff meetings, conferences, hearings and other gatherings to provide legal opinion or advice as questions are raised on substantive and procedural issues, both during and after regular work hours. Be available to assist elected officials and staff with little advanced notice.
• Prepare, review, amend, approve and analyze a variety of legal documents including, but not limited to, ordinances, resolutions, plans, policies, contracts, real estate documents, interlocal agreements, settlement agreements, briefs, letters, legal opinions, discovery related documents, training materials, and other legal documents and instruments.
• Provide legal support to City departments on procurement and contracting matters, including assistance with competitive bidding procedures, public works contracting, and drafting, analyzing, negotiating, and enforcing a wide variety of contracts. 
• Assist the City Attorney in oversight of work of outside counsel, represent City before the Hearing Examiner, on an infrequent basis provide litigation services for the City, organize case information, perform discovery and investigation, analyze evidence and the law, develop litigation strategies, perform research, prepare briefs, effectively present the City’s case and oral arguments in a wide variety of judicial and non-judicial forums, and perform appellate work.  Most tort litigation is performed by outside counsel, but Assistant City Attorney may be assigned on occasion to defend or prosecute smaller claims not covered by the City’s insurance.
• Periodically attend continuing legal education training to meet Washington State Bar Association requirements and to improve professional skills.
• Work productively in a team atmosphere and support team, department and City goals and objectives as determined by supervisor and leadership. Be available to assist and support City Attorney and other staff in order to meet deadlines.
• In the absence of the City Attorney, attend meetings and perform duties of the City Attorney as assigned.
• Contributes to effective City operations by performing other related duties as assigned.

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential job function satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Possess the skill to work effectively on several projects concurrently and accomplish tasks with numerous and frequent interruptions, assess and prioritize multiple tasks, projects, and demands. Ability to obtain results by carrying out assigned projects to their completion while meeting schedules and timelines. Good organization, prioritization, attention to detail and collaboration skills. 
• Knowledge of federal, state, and municipal statutes, rules, case law, regulations, and policies relevant to City government.
• Knowledge of municipal government organizational structure, operations, policies, objectives, and jurisdiction.
• Knowledge of principles, practices and procedures of civil and criminal law including procedures and rules.
• Familiarity and competency with legal research, opinion writing, and case management procedures, including legal research methods, techniques, sources, databases, and other research tools. 
• Ability to organize, analyze and evaluate case facts, evidence and legal precedent, prepare cases and implement litigation strategies and techniques.
• Knowledge of and proficiency with modern office practices, procedures, and equipment including personal computer related software.
• Ability to communicate effectively, clearly, and concisely both orally and in writing, ability to resolve conflicts and gain cooperation among groups with divergent interests and effectively use interpersonal skills in a tactful, patient and courteous manner. 
• Ability to analyze situations and recommend and implement an effective course of action, apply common sense understanding to solve practical problems. 
• Correct use of English grammar, spelling, punctuation, and vocabulary.
• Ability to work independently as well as collaboratively.
• Ability to maintain absolute confidentiality of work-related issues, client records and City information. 
• Comfortable with public speaking and presentations.
• Ability to assess and recognize own strengths and weaknesses to pursue self-development; willingness to accept direction from senior staff.

• Graduate of an ABA accredited law school with a Juris Doctor degree.
• Currently licensed and in good standing to practice law in the State of Washington.
• Minimum of 3 years of relevant municipal or other government experience.

• Experience working for a local government.
• Prior contract administration experience, including an in-depth knowledge of procurement laws and regulations, and contract negotiations.
• Prior land use and administrative hearing experience.
• Prior risk management experience, including in-depth knowledge of insurance and risk program administration.

Contacts: The Assistant City Attorney has significant, daily contact with a variety of city departments and staff for the purpose of information sharing and providing legal counsel. Contacts require the communication of abstract legal concepts to persons with varying degrees of legal sophistication. Some contacts may be challenging in nature, requiring the exercise of persuasion and arbitration skills. 

Supervision: Supervision is received from the City Attorney as needed. Work is performed under limited supervision. The City Attorney sets the overall objectives and resources available. The Assistant City Attorney and City Attorney work together to develop the deadlines, projects, and work to be completed. The Assistant City Attorney is responsible for the work, plans and carries out the assignments, resolves most conflicts that arise, coordinates work with others, and interprets policies on own initiative in line with established objectives. The Assistant City Attorney keeps the City Attorney informed of progress, potentially controversial matters, or far-reaching implications. Work is reviewed in terms of feasibility, compatibility with other work, and effectiveness of results. 

Accountability: The Assistant City Attorney, under the supervision of the City Attorney, is accountable for the provision of comprehensive and effective legal service to the City. Decisions and recommendations have significant influence on decisions made by staff.

Working Conditions: Positions in this class perform work predominantly under normal office working conditions. Considerable time working at a computer station is a regular part of the job. No heavy lifting without assistance is required. Regular attendance is an essential duty, including some evening and weekend hours to attend meetings. 

Flexible/Hybrid Working: This position may be eligible for flexible/hybrid working only after successful completion of the probationary period and is subject to the City Attorney’s approval of such request, departmental and City operational needs and is subject to change. Once hired, employee must live in the State of Washington.

The City of Tumwater is an Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE) and does not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, retaliation, parental status, military service, or other non-merit factor.
  
The City of Tumwater is committed to wellness, safety, the environment and racial equity.