Support Staff Vacancy

Position Purpose: Describe the primary purpose of this position and how it contributes to the organization’s objectives. Example: Provides clerical and office support within the Division to ensure its operations are conducted efficiently and effectively. 


The incumbent in this position performs highly independent management-level legal support work in the DGS Office of Chief Counsel. The incumbent in this position is responsible for direct support to the Chief Counsel and Deputy Chief Counsel, performing legal-support and related administrative work and assisting attorneys in the performance of varied legal assignments.

The incumbent performs substantive and complex legal research and analysis on federal and state laws and regulations; legislative history; agency programs; and judicial, legislative, transactional, and administrative processes. Work involves analyzing and summarizing the impact of legislative and regulatory changes, making recommendations regarding agency operations or policy; synthesizing, summarizing, and presenting case-specific research and investigative data and making recommendations for case legal strategy; and writing pleadings, briefs, and other legal documents to be used in preparing for or arguing a case before administrative decision makers or the courts, or for use by an attorney in providing legal advice to clients. Work involves the development, interpretation, and implementation of commonwealth policies or legal protocols and processes; managing large and complex legal research projects or legal document production operations; and drafting, reviewing, and analyzing agreements.

Description of Duties: Describe in detail the duties and responsibilities assigned to this position. Descriptions should include the major end result of the task. Example: Types correspondence, reports, and other various documents from handwritten drafts for review and signature of the supervisor.


Assists with special projects on behalf of the office relating to office initiatives. Also assists with special projects for other Bureaus within the Department or for the Office of General Counsel, as needed.

Office IT liaison: Coordinating IT projects in support of the office’s overall strategy.

Analyzes legislation for legal intent and administrative impact to agency and summarizes recommendations to bring agency policy and operations into compliance.

Serves as the Regulatory Coordinator. In this capacity, the incumbent works with others to draft regulations and statements of policy, review regulatory documents for accuracy and mandatory requirements, and send and tracks regulatory documents through the approval process.

Serves as the Docket Clerk for Administrative Appeals of the Bureau of Finance and Risk Management determinations of Death Benefits for Survivors of Firemen and Law Enforcement Officers; compiles and maintains the official Office of Chief Counsel FARM dockets; procurement and coordination of hearing officers and court reporters; keeps a neutral record of the proceedings; and handles procedures in accordance with the requirements of due process of law.

Real Estate – Routing and tracking of standard and non-standard contracts, including “rush” situations, that need to be circulated for review/execution by OGC and OAG. Perform administrative duties needed for the monthly meetings of the Board of Commissioners of Public Grounds and Buildings. Assist in the preparation of legal documents including, but not limited to, correspondence, leases, lease amendments, and any other documents as assigned.

Establishes and coordinates the processing of contracts and leases with the Office of Attorney General and the Office of General Counsel.

Manages Right to Know Law requests; analyzes the RTKL request to determine the appropriate response; and coordinates agency personnel to receive any relevant information.

Litigation – Collect, compile, and prepare documents to form the Certified Agency Records for filing with the Commonwealth Court. Collect, compile, and prepare exhibits for use at hearings and trials. Assist in the preparation of legal documents, including but not limited to, correspondence, pleadings, discovery requests/responses, settlements, briefs and any other document as assigned.

Reviews and forwards notices regarding Tort litigation matters. Conducts legal research, cite checking, proofreading and docket review.

Collects, preserves, produces and manages electronically stored information. Performs document review; redaction; and Bates numbering.

OAG-handled litigation (assistance with referrals, delegations, discovery requests, and settlements).

Maintains and tracks all pre-approved forms that go through the Department for form approval and ensures they are being used the required number of times per year. Creates the annual approved forms report to be sent to the Office of General Counsel and Office of Attorney General.

Incumbent possesses extensive knowledge and understanding of legal principals, court rules, administrative agency procedures and DGS policies and procedures and possesses the ability to understand and interpret statutes, administrative regulations as well as analyze facts and evidence.

Regularly reviews decisions by the Board of Claims, Commonwealth Court and Supreme Court, preparing summaries of those decisions in matters potentially of interest to DGS with particular attention to attorneys of any discrepancies or inconsistencies which may have a direct bearing on pending DGS cases or on DGS generally.

Audit reports: GAAP and Single Audits.

Supports legal work amongst all attorneys by:

• serving as the primary support for real estate legal services.
• conducting legal research within Lexis and other legal research applications and search engines to perform legal research and writing.
• assisting in case preparation, and general litigation support for hearings, trials, and appeals.
• preparing legal correspondence.
• coordinating trial and hearing logistics.
• coordinating dispositions.
• and reviewing dockets and citations.

Supports DGS Chief Counsel administrative work by:

• procuring, managing, and maintaining library and reference materials.
• filing state and federal documents appropriately.
• implementing policies and procedures related to e-Discovery.

  The incumbent also performs other related duties as required. 

Decision Making: Describe the types of decisions made by the incumbent of this position and the types of decisions referred to others. Identify the problems or issues that can be resolved at the level of this position, versus those that must be referred to the supervisor. Example: In response to a customer inquiry, this work involves researching the status of an activity and preparing a formal response for the supervisor’s signature.

All work is performed in a time-sensitive and highly confidential manner with considerable independence requiring only general direction as-needed.  The incumbent makes decisions as appropriate for the significant programs of responsibility with the legal concurrence and general review by the Deputy Chief Counsel.

This position involves significant independent decision making. The incumbent must analyze legal information for inclusion into research narratives and reports. Analyzes problems with submittals and seeks appropriate clarification from the required parties.

Requirements Profile: Identify any specific experience or requirements, such as a licensure, registration, or certification, which may be necessary to perform the functions of the position. Position-specific requirements should be consistent with a Special Requirement or other criteria identified in the classification specification covering this position. Example: Experience using Java; Professional Engineer License

Experience: 

N/A

Essential Functions: Provide a list of essential functions for this position. Example: Transports boxes weighing up to 60 pounds.
 

1. Ability to comprehend, analyze and interpret legal documents
2. Maintains knowledge of court procedures and rules of evidence.
3. Understands and applies legal principles and theory in carrying out research tasks.
4. Conducts significant casework research in support of hearings and court proceedings.
5. Analyzes and interprets case facts.
6. Communicates effectively both orally and in writing.
7. Prepares reports based on legal research.
8. Interprets and applies OGC office procedures, management directives, and administrative circulars.
9. Utilizes standard Commonwealth and associated software.
10. Establishes and maintains effective working relationships with internal and external staff.