Deputy City Attorney

About the Retirement Team

The Retirement Team is a collaborative group of seven attorneys and a legal secretary. The team counsels the Retirement Board and the San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System (SFERS), which administers, manages, and operates the City’s retirement plans; this work includes investing system assets, approving or denying disability benefit determinations, and disbursing benefits. SFERS serves approximately 75,000 members and beneficiaries and has approximately $35 billion in assets. The Retirement Board also administers the San Francisco Deferred Compensation Plan (SFDCP), which has over 34,000 participants and approximately $5 billion in assets. The Retirement Team’s work covers a broad array of municipal issues that impact the Retirement Board and SFERS, including matters related to pension benefits, SFERS’s investments portfolio, and the SFDCP. The Team also represents SFERS in administrative hearings on industrial and ordinary disability retirement applications involving employees of the City, the Community College District, and the School District before the California Office of Administrative Hearings and may defend those administrative decisions in court.

Deputy City Attorney Position and Responsibilities

The Team’s lead attorney acts as general counsel to the Retirement Board and SFERS. Three attorneys provide investment advice and assist with investment transactions. Three attorneys manage and present disability benefit cases, and two of those attorneys’ workload is divided between disability benefits cases and benefits advice. We are seeking to fill one of the positions that divides its assignments between disability benefits cases and benefits advice. The responsibilities listed below are representative of the range of duties to be assigned and are not intended as an exhaustive list.

• Preparing and arguing disability retirement applications in administrative hearing, and defending those administrative decisions in court
• Advising on public agency benefits laws and rules, including matters such as workers’ compensation double recovery offset, application of the Gilmore rule, death benefits issues (beneficiary designations, competing surviving spouses’ claims, and estate documents required to receive decedents assets), service credits, guardianship and conservatorship; advice includes counseling on family law codes as to dissolution and survivorship rights and on Qualified Domestic Relations Orders (QDROs) and probate codes as to powers of attorney and death benefit issues
• Responding to subpoenas for benefits information
• Drafting legislation on retirement topics
• Reviewing and approving contracts as to form
• Conducting formal solicitations for outside counsel

Requirements

Minimum Qualifications

• Licensed to practice law in California.

Desired Qualifications

• Four or more years of civil or administrative litigation experience, ideally in the areas of workers’ compensation, disability benefits, or employment
• Experience advising on public benefits issues
• Excellent oral and written communication and advocacy skills
• Excellent drafting and negotiating skills
• Ability to assume responsibility quickly and work independently and efficiently
• Ability to manage and appropriately balance an active caseload of administrative and advice matters, and adjust to occasional workload increases
• Ability to exercise good judgment, multi-task, and meet deadlines
• Strong interpersonal skills and a positive attitude
• Commitment to valuing diversity and contributing to an inclusive working and learning environment
• Desire and ability to work successfully as part of a team

Verification

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 [https://sfdhr.org/how-verify-education-requirements>”

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.

Selection Procedures

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.

To apply for this position, please submit your resume and cover letter. Applicants who advance in the selection process must submit at least two references and at least one writing sample.