Supervising Attorney

about us

the office of the los angeles city attorney is one of the nation’s largest municipal law offices. With over 1,000 legal professionals, including 500 attorneys, the office provides the city with the highest caliber legal services, ranging from prosecuting criminal misdemeanors and playing a leading role in criminal justice reform to advising on homelessness initiatives, defending civil lawsuits and claims, and bringing civil enforcement actions in the name of the people of the state of california.

the general counsel division serves as counsel to the city’s officers and various departments. The general counsel’s infrastructure team is a key part of that division, providing counsel to the department of public works and the department of transportation, as well as their respective boards of commissioners and city council oversight committees.

the department of public works and its five operating bureaus—engineering, sanitation, street services, street lighting and contract administration—are responsible for the construction, renovation, and sometimes operation of city facilities and infrastructure, including city buildings, police and fire stations, libraries, wastewater treatment plants, park facilities, and the la zoo, as well as the city’s network of streets, sidewalks, street lights, bridges, sewers, and storm drains.

The board of public works commissioners and the department’s five bureau directors are the chief administrators of the department, overseeing the design and execution of the department’s projects and operations. The department also serves as the permitting and inspection authority for construction activities in the public right-of-way, maintains the city’s urban forest of street trees, issues special event and vending permits, and carries out enforcement operations for street use violations, street vending, illegal dumping and illicit waste discharges.

• managing the staffing of board of public works (bpw) and city council public works committee (pwc) meetings, and advising the bpw and pwc in open and closed session on procedural and substantive matters;
• overseeing the infrastructure team’s work to assure strong, collaborative client relations, consistently high-quality work product, and efficiency in operations and flexibility in staffing assignments;
• providing procedural, substantive, and strategic guidance to the team’s attorneys in their representation of the client departments;
• overseeing specialized litigation relating to the client departments and city ordinances as well as administrative compliance and/or enforcement related to various regulatory permits issued by state and federal agencies;
• overseeing and also reviewing, editing, drafting, and negotiating contracts, public utility franchise agreements, ordinances, and other similar documents, frequently involving regulatory programs and highly complex transactions;
• interacting directly with city leadership, board members, and office executive management on issues being handled by the team;
• coordinating infrastructure team work with other divisions within the city attorney’s office and other governmental agencies, such as caltrans and metro;
• overseeing the training and professional development of the team’s attorneys;
• participating in personnel matters, including but not limited to disciplinary matters, evaluations and performance reviews;
• collaborating with other sections of the office to assure consistent, integrated advice; and
• other related duties as assigned.

• licensed to practice law in all courts in the state of california;
• minimum seven (7) years of experience in municipal, civil, or criminal law;
• demonstrated high‑level written and oral communication skills;
• strong research and writing skills in complex areas of law;
• strong analytical and reasoning skills;
• strong desire to serve the public interest;
• ability to handle a busy and varied workload;
• demonstrated ability to exercise sound judgment;
• ability to work effectively with governmental agencies, public officials, departmental personnel, and members of the public.

• experience in public contracting,…