Police Legal Advisor

Responsibilities

• Collaborates with the City Attorney and City Court Clerks’ office regarding the status of individual cases, contracts, ordinances, and other legal matters affecting police officers.
• Compiles and summarizes the Memphis Police Department’s (MPD) position in response to claims against the city based on actions of department employees.
• Confers with the City Prosecutor to obtain concurrence of legal opinions pertaining to matters affecting police officers’ testimony and/or procedures.
• Attends and participates in Police Legal Advisor association meetings.
• Provides in-service training programs concerning legal liability for both sworn and civilian members of the department.
• Provides on-the-spot legal advice to police officers on the telephone or at the scene as needed.
• Attends and participates in Police Legal Advisor association meetings.
• Provides relevant information to Police command staff during staff meetings.
• Travels to various courts to conduct forfeiture litigation or to appear in opposition to subpoenas.
• Keeps abreast of U.S. Supreme Court, 6th Circuit Court, and Tennessee Court decisions which might affect MPD operations, practices, and policies.
• Publishes monthly law bulletins on issues related to criminal law.
• Prepares written documents, such as motions, pleadings, arguments, ordinances, and contracts.
• Ensures that documents are organized using proper sentence construction, punctuation, and grammar to present cases in courts.

Qualifications

• Must be a graduate from an accredited law school and licensed to practice law in the State of Tennessee.
• Seven (7) years’ experience as a practicing attorney; or any combination of experience and training which enables one to perform the essential job functions.
• Must possess and maintain a valid driver’s license as a condition of continued employment.
• Must be willing to submit to polygraph examination due to the handling of confidential information.
• All candidates must successfully pass a criminal justice employment background check to work within the Police Services Division.
• Working experience and/or training practicing law for public sector entities is preferred.