Deputy Attorney Ethics Elections Team Attorneys Office

Job Description

The Ethics & Elections Team serves as general counsel to the San Francisco Ethics Commission, Department of Elections, Elections Commission, Ballot Simplification Committee, and Redistricting Task Force. The Team regularly provides advice about ethics, conflict of interest, campaign finance, and elections‑related matters to the City’s elected officials, department heads, commissioners, and employees, and drafts legislation within its subject matter expertise. The Team also provides legal ethics advice to employees in the City Attorney’s Office.

An attorney on the Ethics & Elections Team performs many functions – providing legal interpretations and advice, both orally and in writing, formally and informally, on a one‑on‑one basis or at public meetings. The attorney’s role includes interpreting the requirements of a City ordinance or advising on the legal risks of a particular government action; drafting ordinances, ballot measures, and administrative regulations;

reviewing contracts for legal sufficiency; and providing legal advice to commissioners before and during commission meetings. The attorney will also frequently communicate and coordinate with other deputy city attorneys and officials across City government and provide training on ethics issues to City employees and other deputy city attorneys.

• Licensed to practice law in California.

• Three or more years practicing as an attorney.
• Experience serving in an advice capacity as a government lawyer, ideally with some experience in ethics, conflict of interest, campaign finance, and elections‑related laws.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills, especially when explaining legal concepts and rules to non‑lawyer clients.
• Excellent legal analytical skills.
• Ability to listen to client concerns, and develop appropriate options and solutions.
• Commitment to valuing diversity and contributing to an inclusive working and learning environment.
• Strong interpersonal skills and a positive attitude.
• Ability to quickly prioritize among different legal issues and assess legal risks.
• Ability to assume responsibility for assignments and to work independently and efficiently.
• Ability to work collaboratively with colleagues; and
• Ability to manage and appropriately balance multiple assignments, meet deadlines, and adjust to fluctuations in workload.

Applicants may be required to submit verification of qualifying education and experience at any point during the recruitment and selection process. If education verification is required, information on how to verify education requirements, including verifying foreign education credits or degree equivalency, can be found at (Use the "Apply for this Job" box below)..

Note: Falsifying one’s education, training, or work experience or attempted deception on the application may result in disqualification for this and future job opportunities with the City and County of San Francisco.

All work experience, education, training and other information substantiating how you meet the minimum qualifications must be included on your application by the filing deadline. Information submitted after the filing deadline will not be considered in determining whether you meet the minimum qualifications.

Resumes will not be accepted in lieu of a completed City and County of San Francisco application.

Applications completed improperly may be cause for ineligibility, disqualification or may lead to lower scores.

The selection process will include evaluation of applications in relation to minimum requirements. Applicants meeting the minimum qualifications are not guaranteed advancement to the interview. Depending on the number of applicants, the Department may establish and implement additional screening mechanisms to comparatively evaluate the qualifications of candidates. If this becomes necessary, only those applicants whose qualifications most closely meet the needs of the Department will be invited to participate in the oral/performance interview.