Attorney Ii

Description:

Attorney II (Open Records Attorney)
Develop your skills with a dynamic team of legal professionals at A Government Entity. With $212.4 billion in premiums in 2021, Texas is the nation's second largest insurance market and the seventh largest in the world. The Chief Clerk and Open Records Office in the General Counsel Division is hiring an attorney to support A Government Entity's open records and chief clerk teams. This position will have the opportunity to learn about various legal areas in the General Counsel Division.
This position performs moderately complex (journey-level) legal work in a fast-paced environment. It requires significant attention to detail and the ability to educate internal staff on detailed internal processes for our document management system.
This position coordinates with internal staff across A Government Entity's many divisions to respond to requests promptly and thoroughly under the Public Information Act. It involves communicating with the public to clarify requests and provide clear communications regarding A Government Entity's records. Work includes interpreting laws, regulations, and opinions from the Office of the Attorney General and communicating legal advice to A Government Entity staff orally and in writing. Work also includes preparing and editing legal documents and providing legal advice to agency staff on matters involving administrative law and insurance regulation.
The position works under general supervision within a collaborative team, with moderate latitude for the use of initiative and independent judgment. An ideal candidate will be detail-oriented and an excellent communicator, with good collaboration skills. An ideal candidate will have excellent legal research and writing skills, the ability to interpret state and federal laws and apply them to novel legal problems, and the ability to draft thorough and plain language communications.
This position:

• Provides training, guidance, and legal advice to agency staff in matters related to the Public Information Act, Open Records Opinions from the Office of the Attorney General, and statutes and rules related to insurance regulation and administrative law.
• Assists with training staff on and updating detailed internal processes.
• Coordinates the drafting and review of legal documents such as requests for Attorney General rulings on Public Information Act requests.
• Communicates with clients and members of the public, including requestors of public information.
• Reviews documents related to contested case hearings conducted by the State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH) and drafts agency orders based on the administrative law judge's proposal for decision and other relevant documents.
• Works with Chief Clerk staff to coordinate the review and submission of administrative rules to the Texas Register.
• Receives legal documents such as subpoenas and other litigation-related documents and coordinates agency response to them.
• Participates in meetings and trainings on legal issues.
• Analyzes complex legal matters.
• Collaborates with management to ensure business continuity goals are met, including those for succession management.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Qualifications:
This position requires:

• Graduation from an accredited law school with a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree or comparable degree.
• Licensure as an attorney to practice law in Texas.
• Member in good standing with the State Bar of Texas.
• Two years of legal experience. Law clerk experience can be counted toward the legal experience.

Additional job details:
This position requires regular work attendance. The position may be eligible for a hybrid work schedule. If eligible, the employee must have a secure, dedicated workspace with reliable broadband internet service. The ideal candidate must be available for weekly meetings and group collaboration via Microsoft Teams and other applications during regular business hours.
Preferences for this position include:

• Previous experience handling requests under the Public Information Act.
• Previous experience working in a document management system.
• Experience advising in-house staff and management on legal issues.
• Experience working for a federal, state, or local agency.
• A resume submitted with the application.

This position requires demonstrated knowledge of:

• State laws, rules, and regulations with awareness of the Insurance Code, the Government Code, the Administrative Procedure Act, and the Public Information Act.
• Workload management techniques, including prioritization, decision-making, and collaboration with internal clients and management.
• Legal principles, practices, and proceedings.

This position requires demonstrated skill in:

• Problem solving and critical thinking.
• Using Microsoft Office software applications, including Word, Excel, Outlook, and SharePoint.
• Using personal computers sufficient to enter and extract data from related systems and programs such as Centralized Accounting Payroll and Personnel (CAPPS) and other systems required to perform the job.
• Legal research, writing, and analysis, including plain English legal writing.
• Interpreting laws, regulations, and Open Records Opinions affecting the agency.
• Reasoning and logic to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.

This position requires the demonstrated ability to:

• Communicate and work effectively with a wide range of people with varied skills, knowledge, and backgrounds.
• Maintain the confidentiality of sensitive information.
• Analyze and solve work-related problems and work independently on a variety of administrative work and technical assignments.
• Work both independently and as a team player.
• Establish and maintain positive, effective, tactful, and open communication with both agency staff and the public.
• Manage and coordinate multiple tasks and priorities to meet necessary deadlines.
• Use or learn to use agency technological resources, databases, and tracking systems.
  

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