Closing Date: 17th April, 2025

Description:

Established in 1805, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (the NYC Health Department) is the oldest and largest health department in the country. Our mission is to protect and improve the health of all New Yorkers, in service of a vision of a city in which all New Yorkers can realize their full health potential, regardless of who they are, how old they are, where they are from, or where they live.

As a world-renowned public health agency with a history of building transformative public health programming and infrastructure, innovating in science and scholarship to advance public health knowledge, and responding to urgent public health crises from New York City's yellow fever outbreak in 1822, to the COVID-19 pandemic we are a hub for public health innovation, expertise, and programs, and services. We serve as the population health strategist, and policy, and planning authority for the City of New York, while also having a vast impact on national and international public policy, including programs and services focused on food and nutrition, anti-tobacco support, chronic disease prevention, HIV/AIDS treatment, family and child health, environmental health, mental health, and racial and social justice work, among others.

Our Agency's five strategic priorities, building off a recently-completed strategic planning process emerging from the Covid-19 emergency, are:

To re-envision how the Health Department prepares for and responds to health emergencies, with a focus on building a “response-ready” organization, with faster decision-making, transparent public communications, and stronger surveillance and bridges to healthcare systems 2) Address and prevent chronic and diet-related disease, including addressing rising rates of childhood obesity and the impact of diabetes, and transforming our food systems to improve nutrition and enhance access to healthy foods
Address the second pandemic of mental illness including: reducing overdose deaths, strengthening our youth mental health systems, and supporting people with serious mental illness
Reduce black maternal mortality and make New York a model city for women's health
Mobilize against and combat the health impacts of climate change

Our 7,000-plus team members bring extraordinary diversity to the work of public health. True to our value of equity as a foundational element of all of our work, and a critical foundation to achieving population health impact in New York City, the NYC Health Department has been a leader in recognizing and dismantling racism's impacts on the health of New Yorkers and beyond. In 2021, the NYC Board of Health declared racism as a public health crisis. With commitment to advance anti-racist public health practices that dismantle systems that perpetuate inequitable power, opportunity and access, the NYC Health Department continues to work in and with communities and community organizations to increase their access to health services and decrease avoidable health outcomes.

Duties Will Include But Not Be Limited To:
Under the direct supervision of the General Counsel and Deputy General Counsel, the candidate will serve as an Assistant General Counsel within Legal Affairs to provide support as needed on an array of public health legal issues and may be requested to:

Conduct legal research and draft written analyses as needed, often on time-sensitive basis.
Provide recommendations on questions of law and public health and/or administrative policy.
Draft amendments to the NYC Health Code and Commissioner of Health regulations.
Draft legal documents including Orders of the Commissioner, as well as varied types of agreements, contracts, and/or memoranda of understanding.
Appear before OATH and litigate matters of public health importance.
Address concerns related to (but not limited to) enforcement of NYC Health Code, Freedom of Information Law requests, privacy issues, and environmental health.
Maintain sensitive and confidential information.
Manage and distribute information accurately and appropriately.
Establish positive working relationships with co-workers and programs.
Perform other additional duties, as needed.

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

*Important Notes to All Candidates

Please note: If you are called for an interview you will be required to bring to your interview copies of original documentation, such as:

A document that establishes identity for employment eligibility, such as: A Valid U.S. Passport, Permanent Resident Card/Green Card, or Driver's license.
Proof of Education according to the education requirements of the civil service title.
Current Resume
Proof of Address/NYC Residency dated within the last 60 days, such as: Recent Utility Bill (i.e. Telephone, Cable, Mobile Phone)

Additional documentation may be required to evaluate your qualification as outlined in this posting's “Minimum Qualification Requirements” section. Examples of additional documentation may be, but not limited to: college transcript, experience verification or professional trade licenses.

If after your interview you are the selected candidate you will be contacted to schedule an on-boarding appointment. By the time of this appointment you will be asked to produce the originals of the above documents along with your original Social Security card.

*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 StudentAid.gov/PSLF.

"Final Appointments Are Subject to Office of Management & Budget Approval”

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:
Excellent research and writing skills Experience with litigation and transactional law Highly detail-oriented with the ability to prioritize and manage multiple projects Previous experience using online legal databases such as West Law, CLEAR or Lexis Nexis Current working knowledge of Health Department procedures, policies and practices is a plus Current experience in or knowledge and interest in Freedom of Information Law requests, Privacy Issues, Day Care and Restaurant Enforcement and other public health matters is a plus.

Residency Requirement:
New York City residency is not required for this title.