Assistant County Counsel – Land Use, Groundwater Management, and/or Public Works Contracting

THE DEPARTMENT

The County Counsel’s Office includes about 27 attorneys and 13 support staff. Line-assigned attorneys hold the working title Assistant County Counsel, though they are formally classified as Civil Attorney I/II/III or Senior Civil Attorney. Five attorney positions, including the County Counsel, provide office management. Assistant County Counsels handle a wide range of litigation, advisory, and transactional matters reflecting the County’s diverse functions.

THE POSITION

The available position may be filled at the Civil Attorney III or Senior Civil Attorney level, depending on experience. The attorney will advise and represent the County, its departments, agencies, officials, and employees in matters involving land use, groundwater management, and public works contracting. The County seeks motivated candidates with experience in planning and zoning law, CEQA compliance, groundwater management and adjudication under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, and/or public works contracting and construction disputes.

EDUCATION AND LICENSING: All levels require graduation from law school and active membership in the State Bar of California. 

EXPERIENCE:

Civil Attorney III – A minimum of four (4) years of professional legal experience.

Senior Civil Attorney – A minimum of six (6) years of professional legal experience. 

NECESSARY SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS:

Must possess knowledge of and experience in at least one (1) of the following three (3) specialties representing public sector or private clients:

• Land Use
• Groundwater Management
• Public Works Contracting 

SPECIAL RESTRICTIONS AND REQUIREMENTS: 

• The County of Ventura Personnel Rules and Regulations prohibit County attorneys from engaging in the private practice of law for compensation.

Pursuant to the Political Reform Act of 1974, the Assistant County Counsels must file a financial disclosure statement within thirty (30) days of appointment, and annually thereafter.

HOW TO APPLY:

To apply on-line refer to web site: www.venturacounty.gov/jobs. If you prefer to fill out a paper application form, please call (805) 654-5129 for application materials and submit them to County of Ventura Human Resources, 800 S. Victoria Avenue, L-1970, Ventura, CA 93009.

NOTE:

Sufficient information must be provided under the Education/Work experience portion of the application and supplemental questionnaire, if applicable, to thoroughly and accurately demonstrate your qualifications in order to determine eligibility. A resume may be attached to supplement the information in the above sections; however, it may not be submitted in lieu of the application.

The selection process will likely consist of an oral examination, which may be preceded by or replaced with, the score from a T&E, contingent upon the size and quality of the candidate pool. In a typical T&E, your training and experience are evaluated in relation to the background, experience and factors identified for successful job performance during a job analysis. For this reason, it is recommended that your application materials clearly show your relevant background and specialized knowledge, skills, and abilities. It is also highly recommended that the supplemental questionnaire within the application is completed with care and diligence.

ELIGIBILITY LIST: Candidates who score seventy percent (70%) or higher on the oral examination will be placed on an eligible list for one (1) year. If there are three (3) or fewer qualified applicants, an oral examination will not be conducted. Instead, a score of seventy percent (70%) will be assigned to each applicant, and each applicant will be placed on the eligible list.

The eligible list established from this recruitment may be used to fill existing and future regular, temporary, fixed-term, intermittent and extra-help positions within the office only. There is currently one (1) Regular vacancy in the County Counsel’s Office.

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY: The County of Ventura is an equal opportunity employer to all, regardless of age, ancestry, color, disability (mental and physical), exercising the right to family care and medical leave, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, military or veteran status, national origin, political affiliation, race, religious creed, sex (includes pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding and related medical conditions), and sexual orientation.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

For further information about this recruitment, please contact Lorin Calderon by email to Lorin.Calderon@venturacounty.gov or phone (805) 654-2959.