Description:
Description:Do you have a passion for public state service and enjoy making a difference? The Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) is hiring! We regulate the insurance industry, administer the Texas workers' compensation system, and educate and protect consumers. Apply now if you're looking for a rewarding career in public service. The Texas Department of Insurance is in the Capitol Complex, in the Barbara Jordan Building at 1601 Congress Avenue in Austin, near the Texas Capitol.
Benefits of working at TDI:
- Flexible work schedules.
- Work-life-balance.
- 96 hours of accrued vacation a year.
- 96 hours of accrued sick leave a year.
- 20+ holidays every year.
- Career advancement opportunities.
- Free parking.
- 401(k) and 457 Programs.
- State of Texas retirement plan with a lifetime annuity through the Employee Retirement System of Texas (ERS).
- Free comprehensive medical insurance for full-time employees and 50% off premium costs for dependents (state pays other 50%).
- Optional benefits like dental, vision, life insurance, and many more.
- Qualified employer for the Federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.
Things you'll do in your first year on the job as a TDI attorney:
- Get insurance and transactional law experience with a manageable docket. Solid training and plenty of experienced support help you ease into learning insurance regulation and reviewing complex transactions. Once you've gathered the skills needed, you'll have relevant skills others take a career to develop.
- Develop administrative law skills—a varied practice area with public and private practitioners throughout the state.
- Learn the insurance industry. Every lawyer deals with insurance in their practice and in their daily life.
- Work with a collaborative, team-oriented group of professionals.
Before you apply:
TDI does not sponsor or assume sponsorship of an employment visa.
Learn about our selection process (http://www.tdi.texas.gov/jobs/apply.html), our military employment preference, licensing, and credential requirements.
Attorney III (Attorney)
Develop your skills with a dynamic team of legal professionals at TDI. With $293 billion in premiums, Texas is home to the nation's second largest insurance market and the fifth largest in the world. The Office of Financial Counsel in the General Counsel Division is hiring for an attorney skilled in research and advising clients to support TDI in areas such as company licensing, mergers, acquisitions, corporate formation, insolvency, troubled companies, receiverships, company stability, and examinations.
The General Counsel Division provides training and a positive, collaborative work culture. This position performs highly complex (senior-level) legal work for the Office of Financial Counsel, and works under limited supervision, with considerable latitude for the use of initiative and independent judgment. An ideal candidate will have excellent legal research, communication, and writing skills, the ability to interpret state and federal laws and apply them to complex business transactions and novel legal problems, and the ability to draft thorough and plain language legal documents. The ideal candidate will show a willingness and ability to take on new challenges and subject matter. The candidate will be detail-oriented and an excellent communicator, with good collaboration skills and judgment in the analysis of legal risks.
This position:
- Provides legal support to staff throughout the agency and interacts with outside counsel on regulatory filings.
- Works with agency staff and industry stakeholders on reviewing documents and filings, including complex transactions, to determine compliance with all relevant laws and regulations.
- Researches and analyzes state and federal statutes, rules, and case law, and provides legal guidance and recommendations to agency staff.
- Drafts and reviews legal opinions, memoranda, orders, bulletins, contracts, briefs, pleadings, and other documents.
- Assists in responding to subpoenas and requests under the Public Information Act.
- Directs, organizes, and coordinates legal and administrative activities.
- Works on and may be lead attorney on team projects involving various agency divisions and outside stakeholders.
- Attends, participates, presents, and leads in both virtual and in-person meetings with agency staff and external stakeholders.
- Briefs executive management and the commissioner on legal issues.
- Plans and presents internal training to staff and attorneys.
- Analyzes and tracks legislation, assists in drafting bills, and works on implementation of the new statutes for the agency.
- Assists the Attorney General's office in representing the agency and preparing cases for litigation. May assist in the development and preparation of evidence for pleadings.
- May assist in agency rulemaking.
- May assist the enforcement division in researching legal issues and preparing cases for administrative hearings.
- Performs other duties as assigned.
Qualifications:
This position requires:
- Graduation from an accredited law school with a Juris Doctor (J.D.) or comparable advanced legal degree.
- 3 years of legal research and writing experience on complex technical issues.
- 3 years of experience advising clients on complex matters as an essential job function.
- Drafting legal opinions, memoranda, briefs, and other legal documents.
- Managing caseload with variety of legal issues requiring prioritization, decision making, and collaboration with client(s).
- Regular work attendance.
- Must be licensed as an attorney to practice law in the State of Texas.
- Member in good standing with the State Bar of Texas.
Note:
Law clerk experience can be counted toward the legal experience.
Additional job details:
This position requires regular work attendance. The ideal candidate must be available for weekly meetings and group collaboration via Microsoft Teams and other applications during regular business hours. You must submit a resume with your application.
Preferences for this position include (these are a plus but are not required):
- Experience in the insurance industry and/or familiarity with the Texas Insurance Code.
- Experience in drafting or reviewing contracts.
- Regulatory or administrative law experience.
- Background in finance, business organizations, or transactional law.
- Experience working with or for organizations or agencies with multiple layers of management.
- Experience with litigation (includes trials, litigation support, or discovery).
This position requires demonstrated knowledge of:
- State laws, rules, procedures, and regulations relevant to job requirements.
- Legal analysis and research.
- Legal principles, practices, and procedures.
- Caseload management, including prioritization, decision making, and collaboration with clients.
This position requires demonstrated skill in:
- Problem solving and critical thinking.
- Using Microsoft Office software applications, including Word, Excel, Outlook, and SharePoint.
- Using personal computers sufficient to enter and extract data from related systems and programs such as Centralized Accounting Payroll and Personnel (CAPPS) and other systems required to perform the job.
- Legal research, writing, and analysis, including plain English legal writing.
- Using reasoning and logic to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to complex problems.
- Managing and prioritizing workloads, including meeting deadlines.
- Using good judgment to analyze legal problems and identify courses of action.
- Project management and/or team leadership.
- Collaborating effectively with all levels of employees and management.
This position requires the demonstrated ability to:
- Communicate and work effectively with a wide range of people with varied skills, knowledge, and backgrounds.
- Maintain the confidentiality of sensitive information.
- Analyze and solve work-related problems and work independently on a variety of administrative work and technical assignments.
- Manage and coordinate multiple tasks and priorities to meet necessary deadlines.
- Work both independently and as a team player.
- Apply critical thinking skills to novel and complex legal questions in order to identify solutions and evaluate risk.
- Identify and analyze legal problems, and prepare sound, clear opinions and briefs.
- Research legal issues efficiently.
- Summarize research findings clearly and effectively.
- Use or learn to use agency technology tools, databases, and tracking systems.
- Use electronic and hard-copy legal reference materials.
- Express comments and legal opinions clearly and persuasively.
- Deal tactfully and professionally with the public, coworkers, agency staff and industry representatives and establish and maintain effective work
Similar Jobs
