Closing Date: 13th October, 2025

Description:

Job Description and Duties:
The Indigent Defense Improvement Division (IDID) of the Office of the State Public Defender (OSPD) invites applications for a full-time attorney in our Training Unit.

By legislative mandate, OSPD's IDID provides training to county based indigent defense systems. The attorneys who join the training team are given broad responsibilities and opportunities to develop programs that meet the training needs of public defenders and appointed defenders in California. We are deeply committed to supporting clients through training of skilled defenders.

Under the general supervision of the Training Director, the training attorneys work both independently and collaboratively to plan, develop and implement training programs for indigent defense counsel and defense teams, including social workers and investigators.

These trainings include a broad range of subject matter, from skills-based training to highly specialized areas of the law. In addition, the training attorneys work with a cohort of trainers in California to increase the capacity of local offices to do their own training, and to identify local and national experts with whom to partner. The training unit works to meet the training needs of specific regions, general and specialized subject area practitioners, and evolving needs that are responsive to significant changes in law.

Please take the short recruitment survey linked below:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/M7N6925

You will find additional information about the job in the Duty Statement. (https://www.calcareers.ca.gov/CalHrPublic/FileDownload.aspx?aid=29143051&name=1f.IDIDTrainingAttorneyDutyStatements(08-2025).pdf)

Working Conditions:

OSPD has two regional offices located in Oakland and Sacramento.

The Oakland office is located downtown in a modern high-rise building near the 12th Street BART station, not to mention a variety of delicious restaurants.
The Sacramento office is located downtown in a modern high-rise building near SacRT Light Rail stations, Downtown Commons, and plenty of shopping.

OSPD permits full-time telework in accordance with government code 14200 for eligible applicants residing in California. Business travel reimbursements consider an employee's designated Headquarters Location and primary residence. The policy may be subject to change by the California Department of Human Resources (CalHR). All commute expenses to the headquartered location will be the responsibility of the selected candidate.

Due to the nature and duties of the position, IDID attorneys are sometimes required to work nights, weekends, and other non-traditional schedules. Some duties must be performed in person, such as certain stakeholder meetings, presentations, and live trainings. The position requires traveling to conferences, meetings, and training events up to 10% of the time and includes occasional overnight travel, up to a week. Travel is primarily by automobile but also includes occasional train, airplane, or public transportation.

Effective July 1, 2025, in response to the budget deficit, the Department of Human Resources (CalHR) has implemented the Personal Leave Program 2025 (PLP 2025). PLP 2025 requires that each full-time employee working their assigned work schedule receive a 4.62 percent reduction in pay in exchange for 8 hours of PLP 2025 leave credits monthly through June 30, 2027.

Special Requirements:

The position(s) require(s) a(n) Active membership in The California State Bar License. You will be required to provide a copy of your license prior to being hired.

In addition to the application, applicants must submit the following:

A resume
At least three professional references
A Statement of Qualifications and
A Writing Sample

Please refer to the "Statement of Qualifications and Writing Sample" section for detailed instructions.

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 of adult learning and training best practices.
Knowledge of California's criminal defense practices.
Knowledge of established and emerging practices of indigent defense advocacy, and effective methods of teaching these skills.
Knowledge of client-centered, community-based, holistic representation.
Aptitude and willingness to guide, mentor and coach defense teams through training programs.
Clear and effective communication skills, both orally and in writing.
Use of Teams, Zoom, SharePoint, Vimeo, Camtasia, and other online learning systems to build relationships and provide high quality training.
Ability to determine ongoing training needs and assist in planning, organization, and presentation of training.
Ability to develop training modules for appointed criminal defense counsel.
Ability to manage a workload consisting of multiple projects and assignments while meeting deadlines and being very detail-oriented.
Ability to communicate, problem solve and manage time effectively.
Ability to adapt to changes in priorities and assignments.
Ability to meet scheduled and last-minute deadlines.