Closing Date: 25th March, 2025

Description:

Job Description and Duties:
The Appeals Board has interesting and often novel work, providing vital guidance on challenging legal issues to the community and Courts of Appeal, which impact injured workers and employers statewide.

Under the general direction of the Secretary or a Deputy Commissioner, the Attorney IV independently researches and writes legal decisions on behalf of the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board Reconsideration Unit, a seven member quasi-judicial body, in response to written appeals from trial-level decisions issued by workers' compensation administrative law judges.

Attorney IVs are expected to perform the most complex, novel, difficult and sensitive legal work of the unit and are expected to work independently. Attorney IVs generally have high level experience, high level research and writing skills, strong technical lawyering skills and high level of subject matter expertise in the areas of workers' compensation law, appellate law and procedure, administrative law and regulations, and in the mechanics of impartial judicial decision making and advice, unbiased judicial review, and preparation of objective written judicial opinions.

Duties include, but are not limited to:

Conduct high-level legal research on novel and complex areas of workers' compensation and related areas of law.
Review evidentiary record, analyze legal issues and draft decisions and briefing in the most sensitive, complex and difficult cases, including legally binding and precedential en banc and significant panel decisions.
Serve as an expert legal resource to the Commissioners and the Deputy Commissioners, including at judicial session, and participate in training of less experienced attorneys.
Act as a member or a lead of a practice area team in one or more of the following subject areas: appellate practice; rule-making; public records requests and confidentiality; and disciplinary proceedings for non-attorney representatives.

This posting may be used to fill future vacancies in accordance with 2 CCR 249.3

To be considered for this Attorney IV job opportunity, applicants must be either reachable on an employment list, have transfer eligibility or have reinstatement eligibility. To take the exam and gain employment list eligibility, please click here to access the exam bulletin:
https://calcareers.ca.gov/CalHrPublic/Exams/ExamBulletin.aspx?ExamControlId=1581

You will find additional information about the job in the Duty Statement. (https://www.calcareers.ca.gov/CalHrPublic/FileDownload.aspx?aid=26827168&name=DutyStatementATTYIV2-25-25Final.pdf)

Working Conditions:
This position may be available at any of the following locations:

455 Golden Gate Ave., Ste 9328, San Francisco, CA 94012
6150 Van Nuys Boulevard, Suite 206, Van Nuys, CA 91401
2031 Howe Ave STE 100, Sacramento, CA 95825

This is a full-time permanent position at the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board Reconsideration Unit. Employees in this position have their own offices, work at desks, and are required to work extensively on computers as necessary for the drafting of legal opinions and other documents, and for research, email communication, file review, training and other purposes. Attorneys are expected to perform their own word processing, and secretarial support is generally limited to the finalization and filing process. The position requires little to no contact with the general public and teleworking per DIR policy is available.

Special Requirements:

In order to apply for this position, you must submit a Statement of Qualifications (SOQ) answering the questions below in addition to the Standard State Application (STD 678) form. Applications received without a SOQ will be rejected. Resumes will be accepted but may not be submitted in lieu of the SOQ. Responses to the SOQ will be competitively scored. The SOQ must be typed in 12-point font, double-spaced and be 5 pages at a minimum and no more than 10 pages in length. Applicants who do not follow the formatting requirements and / or do not provide responses to all four specific questions below may be disqualified. Please respond in detail to the following questions in your SOQ. Include specific examples in each of your responses and explain how your professional experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities meet the qualifications of this position.

Describe your experience in substantive legal writing, including performing legal research, analyzing and appraising legal issues.
Describe your experience working in a judicial or administrative system, including as an intern, clerk, attorney, or judicial officer.
Describe your experience litigating workers' compensation and / or civil cases, including both oral and written advocacy, and any appellate experience.
Describe your experience working at a statutory, regulatory, or legislative body, including any drafting and / or analysis of statutes and regulations.

Additional Special Requirements:
Applicants must have active membership in the State Bar of California. The minimum requirements are defined in the Class Specification for Attorney IV.

Desirable Qualifications:
In addition to evaluating each candidate's relative ability, as demonstrated by quality and breadth of experience, the following factors will provide the basis for competitively evaluating each candidate:

Knowledge concerning the work of the Appeals Board.
Knowledge of statutory and case law in workers' compensation law.
Experience researching, editing, and / or writing legal opinions and / or briefs.
At least seven years of prior litigation, judicial, appellate, and / or administrative law experience.
Experience analyzing and working on legislation and / or administrative regulations.
Strong interpersonal skills and the ability and desire to contribute to a collegial office environment; ability to work independently and manage own workload to meet statutory deadlines.
Proficiency in Word and other Microsoft applications and in electronic legal research.