Closing Date: 2nd November, 2025

Description:

Description:
Under limited supervision, performs legal work advising City departments on legal matters. Represents the City, its Council, its staff and its various Boards and Commissions in all courts in the Commonwealth, and Federal courts (including Bankruptcy Court). Serves as legal counsel to the City departments, City Council and City Boards and Commissions to advise officials on the legal implications for the City; and drafts and reviews major documents of the City. Fields of law practiced in this position include contract, employment, civil rights, personal injury, constitutional, FOIA, real estate, zoning, bankruptcy, and child welfare. Employee must exercise considerable initiative and independent judgment in determining the proper course of action in establishing City policy and litigating cases involving constitutional matters, statutory matters, monetary settlements, money damages, etc. Employee must also exercise tact and professional courtesy in frequent contact with City Council, judges, government officials of the state and federal government and other local governments, persons conducting business with the City, other City staff and the general public. Reports to the Deputy City Attorney.

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform the essential job functions satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the primary job functions herein described. Since every duty associated with this position may not be described herein, employees may be required to perform duties not specifically spelled out in the job description, but which may be reasonably considered to be incidental in the performing of their duties just as though they were actually written out in this job description.

Essential Job Functions:

Provides legal advice to City Council, City departments, and boards and commissions; drafts and review ordinances and resolutions on behalf of the City; reviews rules, policies, plans and forms for compliance with applicable laws.
Drafts, reviews, and/or approves all major documents for the City, including but not limited to, contracts, deeds, easements, franchises, leases, settlement agreements, memorandums of understanding, city policies, change orders, and letters.
Provides legal advice and training to assigned departments and boards, including but not limited to the responsibility of ensuring compliance by members and employees with state/federal law; and negotiate.
Drafts, reviews and/or approves all real estate agreements, including but not limited to, deeds, easements, and open space agreements for the City.
Represents the City in employee grievance matters.
Drafts appellate briefs and appear in the following courts: Virginia Court of Appeals, Supreme Court of Virginia, and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
Performs case management functions, such as preparing case documents; preparing orders; requesting and responding to subpoenas, discovery, subpoena duces tecum, etc.
Interviews witnesses in preparation of trial and represents the City in mediations.
Supervises and direct all City real estate transactions including the sale or purchase of property on behalf of the City; negotiates, drafts, and reviews contracts, leases, easements, deeds, releases and other legal instruments.
Performs other related duties as required.

Required Qualifications:
Juris Doctorate degree from an accredited school of law and a minimum of 6 to 7 years of experience in the practice of law and an emphasis on litigation on complex issues as a plaintiff and defense attorney, preferably including work for a local government; or any equivalent combination of training and experience which provides the required skills, knowledge and abilities. Must be licensed by and be an active member in good standing of the Virginia State Bar and be admitted by the Supreme Court of Virginia to appear in all courts in Virginia. Prefer admittance in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Requires a valid driver's license.

Supplemental Information:

Knowledge of Virginia law pertaining to the operations, authorities and responsibilities of municipal government.
Knowledge of the principles and procedures of civil law, especially as related to municipal government.
Knowledge of municipal government structure and operations.
Knowledge of legal research and investigation methodology, judicial procedure, and rules of evidence. Has general knowledge of the current literature, trends and developments in the field of municipal law.
Skilled in legal writing. Is able to interpret and apply laws and court decisions, and to use legal source material in technical research.
Ability to effectively express ideas orally and in writing.
Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships as necessitated by work assignments.
Ability to exercise considerable initiative and independent judgment in all phases of work.
Ability to compare and/or judge the readily observable, functional, structural or compositional characteristics (whether similar or divergent from obvious standards) of data, people or things.
Ability of speaking and/or signaling people to convey or exchange information. Includes receiving instructions, assignments or directions from superiors.
Ability to read a variety of reports, letters and memos, contracts, deeds, ordinances, resolutions, legal briefs, plats, title reports, appraisals, environmental site assessments, tax records, surveys, construction plans, laboratory analyses, incident reports, medical records, plats, docket sheets, police reports, etc.
Requires the ability to prepare correspondence, reports, contracts, deeds, legal briefs, ordinances, resolutions, etc., using prescribed formats and conforming to all rules of punctuation, grammar, diction, and style.
Requires the ability to speak before groups of people with poise, voice control, persuasiveness, and confidence.
Ability to apply principles of logical or scientific thinking to a wide range of intellectual and practical problems; to deal with nonverbal symbolism in its most difficult phases; to deal with a variety of abstract and concrete variables; to comprehend the most abstruse classes of concepts.
Ability to record and deliver information, to explain procedures, to follow oral and written instructions. Must be able to communicate effectively and efficiently in a variety of technical or professional languages including legal, engineering, medical, zoning, real estate, construction and tax terminology.
Ability to utilize mathematical formulas; to add and subtract; multiply and divide; utilize decimals and percentages; understand and apply the theories of algebra and geometry.
Ability to inspect items for proper length, width and shape.