Litigation Attorney

Agency Summary

The Office of Corporation Counsel (OCC) provides legal services to the City and County through its three main divisions. First, OCC represents the City, County agencies, and City-County employees in litigation, handling a diverse docket that ranges from tort and contract matters to constitutional law. Second, through its counseling division, OCC provides legal advice to City and County agencies, officials, and oversight bodies to ensure that public entities remain compliant with the law and standards of ethical conduct, to safeguard public funds, and to promote the efficient functioning of local government for Marion County taxpayers.

OCC’s third division is the Office of the City Prosecutor, which is responsible for enforcing City-County ordinances. OCC also oversees the Office of Equal Opportunity, which administers the City’s human rights ordinance, protecting against discrimination in employment and other contexts. In exercising these crucial legal functions, OCC cultivates a productive, collaborative, and compliant work environment that prioritizes the needs of our clients and the residents of Indianapolis and Marion County.

The holder of this position will be a front-line attorney with immediate responsibility for handling a wide range of civil litigation matters on behalf of City-County agencies. The position holder will serve as an assistant corporation counsel within OCC’s litigation division.

The primary responsibility of a litigation attorney is to represent the City-County and related agencies in civil litigation matters in state and federal court. The City-County is involved in a diverse array of litigation matters, including federal civil rights suits, tort claims, contract disputes, prisoner litigation, appeals at the state and federal level, and administrative and regulatory matters.

This position will provide immediate experience in all facets of complex civil litigation. On many cases, the holder of this position will assume the role of the primary attorney. This role representing our public agency clients includes preparing complaints, answers, and other pleadings; researching and filing motions and briefs; handling discovery and depositions; judicial hearings; settlement negotiations; and trial advocacy. Front-line litigation attorneys benefit from the assistance of more experience co-counsel and supervisors in many cases but should expect to have immediate responsibility for handling a diverse, challenging caseload.

On litigation matters for which the litigation attorney is not the primary attorney but is assisting a more senior attorney, case assignments will involve conducting in-depth legal research of issues presented by a case, communicating with client agencies and employees as part of the discovery process, assisting in the drafting of pleadings, briefs, and other court filings, and other essentials of diligent case management.

The litigation attorney position also involves the following additional responsibilities:

• Providing advice to client agencies on litigation strategy and settlement negotiations.
• Keeping clients, including senior agency staff and elected officials, fully informed on litigation matters affecting their agencies.
• Advising clients and colleagues in the Office of Corporation Counsel on compliance with law and the avoidance of future litigation risk.
• Preparing advisory opinions and memos on issues related to litigation or future litigation risk, at the request of the Corporation Counsel or client agencies.
• Representing City-County agencies in administrative hearings or similar settings.
• Keeping apprised of relevant legal developments at the state and federal level.
• Overseeing the support work of the litigation staff team, including paralegals, investigators, and office assistants.
• Performing other duties as assigned by the Chief Litigation Counsel or the Corporation Counsel.

• Strong independent judgment. Guidance from more senior attorneys will be available, but successful litigation attorneys must have the good judgment to take responsibility for what they can handle themselves and seek assistance when doing so is in…