Assistant City Attorney – Civil Litigation
City of Minneapolis · Minneapolis, MN · 2 days ago
Full-time
We need to produce HTML fragment with headings for sections: About the role, Responsibilities, Requirements, Qualifications, Skills, Benefits, Pay, Schedule. Only include sections that have real specific content. We must not repeat job title as heading. Must not include Job ID etc. Must preserve all substantive info, remove boilerplate (cookie/navigation/legal/EEO/equal-opportunity/scam-warning boilerplate, duplicated lines, application instructions). Also remove "ALL Applicants MUST Submit Completed City of Minneapolis online application Resume And Cover Letter Individuals are encouraged to submit a resume and cover letter in addition to the online application. Writing Sample Individuals selected to be interviewed may be asked to submit a sample of legal writing as part of the interview process." Those are application instructions, so remove. Also remove "Work Location: This position may be eligible for flexible work arrangements, including hybrid work with some days working remotely and some days working in the office. The City of Minneapolis does not sponsor applicants for work visas." This is work location and visa info; maybe we can keep as part of "About the role"? It's not a heading but we can include in a paragraph under About the role. However we must not create sections like Benefits/Pay/Schedule unless posting actually states them. The posting does not mention benefits, pay, schedule specifics. So we should not include those sections. Also we should not include "Selection Process", "Background Check", "Union Representation", "Eligible List Statement", "Interview Selection", "Knowledge, Skills And Abilities", "The Following Are Desired", etc. But we need to preserve substantive information: duties, responsibilities, qualifications, maybe knowledge/skills. The instruction says we should use headings for sections like About the role, Responsibilities, Requirements, Qualifications, Skills, Benefits, Pay, Schedule. So we need to map content to these headings.
We have:
- About the role: description of role: "By the City Charter, the attorneys of the City Attorney’s Office, as a team, serve as the attorneys and counselors at law to the Mayor, City Council, boards, committees, departments, and officers. The attorneys of the CAO are the exclusive representatives of the City and are authorized to provide legal advice and opinion to the City and its officers and staff. Under supervision provide the City of Minneapolis and its various officials, boards, agencies and departments with professional legal services relating to a wide range of civil litigation matters, including representing the city in all stages of civil and administrative litigation matters, providing legal advice, conducting legal research, and other legal work of the Civil Division of the City Attorney’s Office."
Also work location flexible hybrid, no visa sponsorship. Could include in About the role.
- Responsibilities: list of job duties (the long list). Use
for sections: About the role, Responsibilities, Requirements, Qualifications, Skills, Benefits, Pay, Schedule. Only include sections that have real specific content. We must not repeat job title as heading. Must not include Job ID etc. Must preserve all substantive info, remove boilerplate (cookie/navigation/legal/EEO/equal-opportunity/scam-warning boilerplate, duplicated lines, application instructions). Also remove "ALL Applicants MUST Submit Completed City of Minneapolis online application Resume And Cover Letter Individuals are encouraged to submit a resume and cover letter in addition to the online application. Writing Sample Individuals selected to be interviewed may be asked to submit a sample of legal writing as part of the interview process." Those are application instructions, so remove. Also remove "Work Location: This position may be eligible for flexible work arrangements, including hybrid work with some days working remotely and some days working in the office. The City of Minneapolis does not sponsor applicants for work visas." This is work location and visa info; maybe we can keep as part of "About the role"? It's not a heading but we can include in a paragraph under About the role. However we must not create sections like Benefits/Pay/Schedule unless posting actually states them. The posting does not mention benefits, pay, schedule specifics. So we should not include those sections. Also we should not include "Selection Process", "Background Check", "Union Representation", "Eligible List Statement", "Interview Selection", "Knowledge, Skills And Abilities", "The Following Are Desired", etc. But we need to preserve substantive information: duties, responsibilities, qualifications, maybe knowledge/skills. The instruction says we should use headings for sections like About the role, Responsibilities, Requirements, Qualifications, Skills, Benefits, Pay, Schedule. So we need to map content to these headings.
We have:
- About the role: description of role: "By the City Charter, the attorneys of the City Attorney’s Office, as a team, serve as the attorneys and counselors at law to the Mayor, City Council, boards, committees, departments, and officers. The attorneys of the CAO are the exclusive representatives of the City and are authorized to provide legal advice and opinion to the City and its officers and staff. Under supervision provide the City of Minneapolis and its various officials, boards, agencies and departments with professional legal services relating to a wide range of civil litigation matters, including representing the city in all stages of civil and administrative litigation matters, providing legal advice, conducting legal research, and other legal work of the Civil Division of the City Attorney’s Office."
Also work location flexible hybrid, no visa sponsorship. Could include in About the role.
- Responsibilities: list of job duties (the long list). Use - for each duty.
- Requirements: maybe "Minimum Education: Juris Doctorate degree from an accredited law school Minimum Experience: Two or more years of relevant legal experience which may include both legal on the job experience before bar admission and experience as a practicing attorney Licenses/Certifications: Currently licensed to practice law in the State of Minnesota." That's qualifications. Could be under Requirements or Qualifications. The instruction says we can have both Requirements and Qualifications sections. We need to decide what goes where. Typically Requirements = minimum qualifications (education, experience, license). Qualifications = preferred or desired qualifications. But we can also combine. However we must not create empty sections. We have both minimum qualifications and desired qualifications (the "Following Are Desired" list). So we can put minimum qualifications under Requirements, and desired qualifications under Qualifications (or Skills). Also we have Knowledge, Skills And Abilities list: legal knowledge and technical skills, civil litigation experience, knowledge of Westlaw, etc. That fits under Skills.
Thus:
- About the role: paragraph(s) summarizing role and work location.
- Responsibilities:
list of duties (the bullet points). We need to extract each duty sentence from the long paragraph. Let's list them:
From "Job Duties And Responsibilities" section:
1. Represent the City in All Stages of Civil Litigation Matters: (maybe heading but we can treat as duty)
- Analyze pleadings to determine legal issues, immunities, and liabilities.
- Establish an efficient and effective research plan to determine a case's proper course of action.
- Conduct research using a caselaw database, such as Westlaw, to locate relevant controlling or persuasive cases that address specific legal issues presented in litigation.
- Apply case law to the facts in a persuasive briefing to the court with proper assertions of support cited accurately from case law.
- Respond within time-sensitive timelines to discovery requests with responses asserting appropriate defenses and seek requests to reinforce City defenses and minimize liability.
- Manage discovery process including using e-discovery tools.
- Direct investigative staff to conduct any additional necessary investigation.
- Review and analyze evidence, including physical evidence, body-worn cameras, squad, transit, and surveillance footage, and jail and 911 tapes.
- Evaluate and secure expert witnesses.
- Review and analyze medical records, laboratory reports, and expert witness reports.
- Make appropriate recommendations to City staff, including the City Attorney, client departments, elected officials, and internal colleagues, to minimize legal exposure. This includes analysis and advice on whether to settle the matter and for how much, appeal an adverse decision or verdict, and consider the risks and benefits of continuing litigation.
- Attend and engage in negotiations at settlement conferences with council members and department administration.
- Deliver well-thought-out, persuasive oral arguments advancing the case’s legal theories and strengths both internally (client departments, CAO colleagues, and elected officials) and externally (judge and jury).
- Respond to asserted claims of weaknesses in the case with well-reasoned counterarguments.
- Meet and communicate with the plaintiff’s counsel regarding the status of the case and related issues.
- Prepare cases for presentation in court, including those of a complex nature, by determining trial themes, identifying trial exhibits, drafting witness examinations, and thoroughly preparing City witnesses for direct and cross-examination.
- Represent the City in administrative, court, and jury trials.
- Communicate regularly with decision-making clients and city employees impacted by the litigation.
- Research and draft briefs and present oral arguments for appeals at the Minnesota Court of Appeals and the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.
- Manage an assigned caseload, coordinating court dates and other schedules with all concerned parties.
2. Working Conditions: Regular indoor office and courtroom environment. (maybe part of About the role or Responsibilities? Could be under About the role.)
We'll include Working Conditions as a bullet under Responsibilities maybe.
Now Requirements (minimum qualifications):
- Minimum Education: Juris Doctorate degree from an accredited law school
- Minimum Experience: Two or more years of relevant legal experience which may include both legal on the job experience before bar admission and experience as a practicing attorney
- Licenses/Certifications: Currently licensed to practice law in the State of Minnesota.
Qualifications (desired):
- Experience in representing a public entity as a lawyer or student attorney.
- Jury or court trial experience.
Also maybe "Forty-five credits of continuing legal education courses every three years" is a requirement? It's under Knowledge, Skills And Abilities list as a bullet: "Forty-five credits of continuing legal education courses every three years". That seems like a requirement (maybe for maintaining license). Could be under Requirements or Qualifications. We'll treat as a requirement (maybe under Requirements). But it's not explicitly minimum; it's a requirement for attorneys in Minnesota? We'll include under Requirements as a bullet.
Skills:
- Legal knowledge and technical skills
- Civil litigation experience
- Knowledge of and the ability to use online law resources such as Westlaw.
- Knowledge of a wide range of legal issues and precedents pertinent to civil law.
- Ability to deal respectfully and effectively with people from all cultures.
- Good oral and written communication skills.
- Organizational and prioritization skills
- Initiative and problem-solving skills
We could also include "Forty-five credits of continuing legal education courses every three years" under Skills? But it's more of a requirement. We'll keep under Requirements.
Now we need to output only HTML fragment, no markdown.
We'll produce:
About the role
...
Responsibilities
- ...
...
Requirements
- ...
...
Qualifications
- ...
...
Skills
- ...
...
We must not include Benefits, Pay, Schedule sections because not present.
We must ensure we don't include any boilerplate like EEO etc. The final paragraph about Equal Employment Opportunity is boilerplate; remove.
Also remove "As the largest and most vibrant city in the state, Minneapolis depends on purposeful, dedicated and innovative employees. Minneapolis has a large variety of careers for people of all experiences and backgrounds who come together for a singular purpose—serving the residents, businesses and visitors of Minneapolis." That's also fluff but maybe considered substantive? It's generic marketing; but it's not about the role. Might be considered boilerplate; but it's not explicitly listed as boilerplate to remove. However it's not specific to the role; but it's still part of posting. The instruction: "Preserve ALL substantive information; do NOT invent or summarize away detail." That paragraph is substantive? It's generic but still part of posting. However it's not about the role; but we could include under About the role as a paragraph. However it's not specific to the role; but it's still part of the posting. The instruction says remove cookie/navigation/legal/EEO/equal-opportunity/scam-warning boilerplate, duplicated lines, and application instructions. That paragraph is not those. So we could keep it. But it's not about the role; but we could include it in About the role as extra context. However we need to avoid filler/placeholder text like "commensurate with experience", "not specified", "N/A", "varies", "TBD". This paragraph is not filler. So we could keep.
But we need to decide if we want to include it. It's not harmful. We'll include it under About the role after the description.
Now we need to ensure we don't duplicate content. The "Job Duties And Responsibilities" heading we will not replicate as heading; we will just list duties under Responsibilities.
Now let's craft the HTML.
We need to escape any HTML special characters? Not needed as plain text.
Let's write:
About the role
By the City Charter, the attorneys of the City Attorney’s Office, as a team, serve as the attorneys and counselors at law to the Mayor, City Council, boards, committees, departments, and officers. The attorneys of the CAO are the exclusive representatives of the City and are authorized to provide legal advice and opinion to the City and its officers and staff. Under supervision, they provide the City of Minneapolis and its various officials, boards, agencies, and departments with professional legal services relating to a wide range of civil litigation matters, including representing the city in all stages of civil and administrative litigation matters, providing legal advice, conducting legal research, and other legal work of the Civil Division of the City Attorney’s Office. This position may be eligible for flexible work arrangements, including hybrid work with some days working remotely and some days working in the office. The City of Minneapolis does not sponsor applicants for work visas. As the largest and most vibrant city in the state, Minneapolis depends on purposeful, dedicated and innovative employees. Minneapolis has a large variety of careers for people of all experiences and backgrounds who come together for a singular purpose—serving the residents, businesses and visitors of Minneapolis.
Now Responsibilities list.
We'll create with each duty as - . We'll need to break down the long list into items.
Let's list items:
- Analyze pleadings to determine legal issues, immunities, and liabilities.
- Establish an efficient and effective research plan to determine a case's proper course of action.
- Conduct research using
- list of duties (the bullet points). We need to extract each duty sentence from the long paragraph. Let's list them:
From "Job Duties And Responsibilities" section:
1. Represent the City in All Stages of Civil Litigation Matters: (maybe heading but we can treat as duty)
- Analyze pleadings to determine legal issues, immunities, and liabilities.
- Establish an efficient and effective research plan to determine a case's proper course of action.
- Conduct research using a caselaw database, such as Westlaw, to locate relevant controlling or persuasive cases that address specific legal issues presented in litigation.
- Apply case law to the facts in a persuasive briefing to the court with proper assertions of support cited accurately from case law.
- Respond within time-sensitive timelines to discovery requests with responses asserting appropriate defenses and seek requests to reinforce City defenses and minimize liability.
- Manage discovery process including using e-discovery tools.
- Direct investigative staff to conduct any additional necessary investigation.
- Review and analyze evidence, including physical evidence, body-worn cameras, squad, transit, and surveillance footage, and jail and 911 tapes.
- Evaluate and secure expert witnesses.
- Review and analyze medical records, laboratory reports, and expert witness reports.
- Make appropriate recommendations to City staff, including the City Attorney, client departments, elected officials, and internal colleagues, to minimize legal exposure. This includes analysis and advice on whether to settle the matter and for how much, appeal an adverse decision or verdict, and consider the risks and benefits of continuing litigation.
- Attend and engage in negotiations at settlement conferences with council members and department administration.
- Deliver well-thought-out, persuasive oral arguments advancing the case’s legal theories and strengths both internally (client departments, CAO colleagues, and elected officials) and externally (judge and jury).
- Respond to asserted claims of weaknesses in the case with well-reasoned counterarguments.
- Meet and communicate with the plaintiff’s counsel regarding the status of the case and related issues.
- Prepare cases for presentation in court, including those of a complex nature, by determining trial themes, identifying trial exhibits, drafting witness examinations, and thoroughly preparing City witnesses for direct and cross-examination.
- Represent the City in administrative, court, and jury trials.
- Communicate regularly with decision-making clients and city employees impacted by the litigation.
- Research and draft briefs and present oral arguments for appeals at the Minnesota Court of Appeals and the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.
- Manage an assigned caseload, coordinating court dates and other schedules with all concerned parties.
2. Working Conditions: Regular indoor office and courtroom environment. (maybe part of About the role or Responsibilities? Could be under About the role.)
We'll include Working Conditions as a bullet under Responsibilities maybe.
Now Requirements (minimum qualifications):
- Minimum Education: Juris Doctorate degree from an accredited law school
- Minimum Experience: Two or more years of relevant legal experience which may include both legal on the job experience before bar admission and experience as a practicing attorney
- Licenses/Certifications: Currently licensed to practice law in the State of Minnesota.
Qualifications (desired):
- Experience in representing a public entity as a lawyer or student attorney.
- Jury or court trial experience.
Also maybe "Forty-five credits of continuing legal education courses every three years" is a requirement? It's under Knowledge, Skills And Abilities list as a bullet: "Forty-five credits of continuing legal education courses every three years". That seems like a requirement (maybe for maintaining license). Could be under Requirements or Qualifications. We'll treat as a requirement (maybe under Requirements). But it's not explicitly minimum; it's a requirement for attorneys in Minnesota? We'll include under Requirements as a bullet.
Skills:
- Legal knowledge and technical skills
- Civil litigation experience
- Knowledge of and the ability to use online law resources such as Westlaw.
- Knowledge of a wide range of legal issues and precedents pertinent to civil law.
- Ability to deal respectfully and effectively with people from all cultures.
- Good oral and written communication skills.
- Organizational and prioritization skills
- Initiative and problem-solving skills
We could also include "Forty-five credits of continuing legal education courses every three years" under Skills? But it's more of a requirement. We'll keep under Requirements.
Now we need to output only HTML fragment, no markdown.
We'll produce:
- ... ...
- ... ...
- ... ...
- ... ...
- . We'll need to break down the long list into items. Let's list items: - Analyze pleadings to determine legal issues, immunities, and liabilities. - Establish an efficient and effective research plan to determine a case's proper course of action. - Conduct research using
About the role
...
Responsibilities
Requirements
Qualifications
Skills
About the role
By the City Charter, the attorneys of the City Attorney’s Office, as a team, serve as the attorneys and counselors at law to the Mayor, City Council, boards, committees, departments, and officers. The attorneys of the CAO are the exclusive representatives of the City and are authorized to provide legal advice and opinion to the City and its officers and staff. Under supervision, they provide the City of Minneapolis and its various officials, boards, agencies, and departments with professional legal services relating to a wide range of civil litigation matters, including representing the city in all stages of civil and administrative litigation matters, providing legal advice, conducting legal research, and other legal work of the Civil Division of the City Attorney’s Office. This position may be eligible for flexible work arrangements, including hybrid work with some days working remotely and some days working in the office. The City of Minneapolis does not sponsor applicants for work visas. As the largest and most vibrant city in the state, Minneapolis depends on purposeful, dedicated and innovative employees. Minneapolis has a large variety of careers for people of all experiences and backgrounds who come together for a singular purpose—serving the residents, businesses and visitors of Minneapolis.
Now Responsibilities list. We'll create- with each duty as