Supervising Senior Environmental & Water Attorney

Description:

Job Summary:
The Supervising Senior Environmental & Water Resources Senior Attorney will provide representation to the Water and Sewer Department, the Water and Sewer Board, and City Council (as necessary) regarding all Water and Sewer Enterprise matters. The role includes drafting documents, legal research, providing legal advice (both verbal and written), representing the City before local, state, federal, and administrative tribunals, managing outside counsel and consultants, assisting the Deputy City Attorney – Public Utilities with management of the ENV&W Practice Group and directly supervises one or more attorneys and administrative staff members. The Supervising Environmental & Water Resources Senior Attorney facilitates project oversight between the ENV&W Practice Group, Deputy City Attorney – Public Utilities, and senior Water and Sewer Department Staff.

Experience:
Minimum Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree from a four-year college or equivalent technical training
• Juris Doctorate degree or equivalent from accredited law school
• Admission to the state bar of Colorado
• Extensive legal knowledge on a wide variety of subjects including municipal, water, environmental, contract, and property law

Preferred:

• Advanced knowledge of environmental and/or water and municipal law and case management tools
• Strong supervisory experience in managing a legal team and administrative staff

Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities:

• Knowledge of and ability to use relevant software such as MS Office Suite, Westlaw, LexisNexis, PACER CM/ECF, and Legal Files
• Ability to research and analyze statutes, administrative regulations, pending legislation, and case law
• Expert understanding of a combination of involved practices, precedents, facts, and conditions, or in a broad group of business systems essential in the exercise of managerial skills
• Knowledge supplemented by substantial work experience or enhanced by additional schooling in a specialized field including multifunctional managers
• Ability to speak publicly in front of large and small audiences
• Ability to determine what has been done, and/or what can be done within the limits set by organizational policy, general directives, and overall goals and objectives
• Ability to determine most appropriate legal strategy in any situation

Essential Functions:

• Represent the City in various transactional matters, including but not limited to: negotiating and drafting purchase and sale agreements, carriage contracts, option agreements, easements, licenses, restrictive covenants, and a variety of intergovernmental and/or cooperative agreements between various public entities; draft agenda summaries, motions, resolutions, and/or ordinances necessary to approve or comply with such matters
• Manage outside counsel and consulting engineers
• Represent the City in Water Court litigation as both applicant and opposer including the preparation and prosecution of water court applications for the change of water rights, augmentation plans, exchanges, or finding of reasonable diligence on conditional water rights; monthly review of the Water Court resume to determine which applications the City should oppose; negotiation of appropriate decree terms and conditions and participation during trial; review of applications for substitute water supply plans, notices of use, and other temporary operations proposed by other entities that the City may need to engage on to ensure no injury to its water rights
• Represent the City in local, state, and federal matters, including but not limited to: representing the City before county commission, state administrative agencies during administrative or rulemaking hearings or permit application, and by providing written comments on pending federal actions including federal permits and proposed rules
• Assist the Deputy City Attorney – Public Utilities in managing the ENV&W Practice group, which may include:
• Supervising one or more attorneys and administrative staff members
• Reviewing and assigning legal requests
• Tracking project assignments and facilitating project oversight between the ENV&W Practice Group, Deputy City Attorney-Public Utilities, and senior Water and Sewer department staff
• Management responsibilities also include the following tasks:
• Updating spreadsheets to track assignments and drafting progress notes
• Scheduling and leading monthly and/or weekly meetings with staff, attorneys, and support staff to review assignments, processes and procedures
• Facilitating and encouraging peer review of work products and open communication among practice group attorneys and support staff
• Drafting forms and policies to assist with a consistent and uniform approach to common tasks (e.g., drafting a Form Purchase and Sale Agreement)
• Performing periodic review of administrative processes and procedures to improve efficiency and/or transparency within the ENV&W Practice group
• Provide training on a variety of topics, including but not limited to: open records, open meetings, contract law, risk management, and statutory interpretation. Training may be conducted for City staff members or for external groups and will require research and preparation of training materials
• Correspond through phone calls and emails from attorneys and other legal staff regarding legal issues or court cases in which the City is involved
• Apply problem-solving and sound decision-making to both broad policies and specific objectives; develop long-term policy recommendations; and assess future resource requirements.
• Discuss city objectives and policies to determine whether course of action identified by staff members will involve any legal challenge.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

• Organize and delegate assignments to team members
• Hire, train, motivate, and coach employees
• Evaluate and conduct annual employee performance and goal setting
• Hold employees accountable for performing assigned tasks and meeting goals on a day-to-day basis
• Provide timely and constructive feedback and training opportunities with a focus on employee development
• Resolve conflicts and complaints
• Analyze information and processes to develop more effective or efficient processes
• Establish and achieve business and financial objectives
• Ensure compliance with safety procedures

Travel:
This position requires occasional local travel within Weld and Larimer Counties. Employees may be expected to walk or drive short distances to attend meetings, trainings, or perform work at other city buildings or partner sites

Work Environment and Physical Requirements:
Work Environment:

• Safe to minimal hazards that are typically found in a general office environment where there is rarely, little, or no exposure to injury or accident
• General office environment hazards could include eye strain and muscle strain

Physical Requirements:

• Most work is performed at a computer workstation
• Ability to stand and walk to access files and attend meetings and administrative hearings and court
• Ability to lift files and exhibits in administrative hearings and court and frequently move and stand as part of presenting the case
• Light to moderate physical effort that includes frequent standing or walking or maintaining arms and hands in the same position for repetitive tasks
• Frequently works with light objects and light hand tools
  

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