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Deputy Chief Litigation Counsel

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Deputy Chief Litigation Counsel

Salary

$101,365.56 Annually

Location

City County Building, IN

Job Type

Full Time

Job Number

09142

Department

Office of Corporation Counsel

Opening Date

05/27/2025

Closing Date

6/1/2025 11:59 PM Eastern

+ Description

+ Benefits

Position Summary

The Office of Corporation Counsel (OCC) provides legal services to the City and County through its three main divisions. First, OCC represents the City, County agencies, and City-County employees in litigation, handling a diverse docket that ranges from tort and contract matters to constitutional law. Second, through its counseling division, OCC provides legal advice to City and County agencies, officials, and oversight bodies to ensure that public entities remain compliant with the law and standards of ethical conduct, to safeguard public funds, and to promote the efficient functioning of local government for Marion County taxpayers. OCC’s third division is the Office of the City Prosecutor, which is responsible for enforcing City-County ordinances. OCC also oversees the Office of Equal Opportunity, which administers the City’s human rights ordinance, protecting against discrimination in employment and other contexts. In exercising these crucial legal functions, OCC cultivates a productive, collaborative, and compliant work environment that prioritizes the needs of our clients and the residents of Indianapolis and Marion County.

The holder of this position will handle a wide range of civil litigation matters on behalf of City-County agencies, with a focus on more complex or high-stakes matters that require significant professional experience and/or subject-matter expertise. The incumbent will also share responsibility for managing a team of litigation attorneys and supervising more junior attorneys and members of support staff. The position holder will serve within the litigation division of OCC.

All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran, or disability status. We value diversity in perspectives and experiences among colleagues and the residents of this city of whom we serve.

Position Responsibilities

The deputy chief litigation counsel is a working manager, combining an active litigation caseload with management responsibilities.

The primary responsibility of a deputy chief litigation counsel is to represent the City-County and related agencies in civil litigation matters in state and federal court. The City-County is involved in a diverse array of litigation matters, including federal civil rights suits, tort claims, contract disputes, prisoner litigation, appeals at the state and federal level, and administrative and regulatory matters.

The position holder will be responsible for all facets of complex civil litigation. On many cases, the holder of this position will assume the role of the primary attorney. This role representing our public agency clients includes preparing complaints, answers, and other pleadings; researching and filing motions and briefs; handling discovery and depositions; judicial hearings; settlement negotiations; and trial advocacy. As a deputy chief litigation counsel, this position holder will take responsibility for lawsuits that are highly sensitive in nature, involve significant potential financial liability, implicate complex legal issues, or involve complicated discovery and case management challenges.

On other matters, the deputy chief litigation counsel will play a “second chair” role, handling some aspects of a case while another attorney occupies the lead role. In such cases, the deputy chief’s role may be to provide high-level guidance to a more junior attorney who is handling the day-to-day aspects of a case. This high-level guidance includes strategic direction, client communications, review of the junior attorney’s work, and communications with opposing counsel.

The deputy chief litigation counsel’s management role requires active supervision of a team of litigation attorneys and senior litigation attorneys, a tort claims investigator, paralegals, and office administrative staff. Working in conjunction with the chief litigation counsel, the deputy chief will be responsible for conducting regular check-ins with more junior attorneys, delegating responsibility and assigning case work as appropriate, and ensuring that the office as a whole professionally discharges its duties to clients. The deputy chief, alongside other senior management personnel, will set the strategic direction for the litigation division, which includes adopting internal policies and procedures to optimize the division’s performance.

The deputy chief litigation counsel position also involves the following additional responsibilities:

+ Providing advice to client agencies on litigation strategy and settlement negotiations.

+ Keeping clients, including senior agency staff and elected officials, fully informed on litigation matters affecting their agencies.

+ Advising clients and colleagues in the Office of Corporation Counsel on compliance with law and the avoidance of future litigation risk.

+ Preparing advisory opinions and memos on issues related to litigation or future litigation risk, at the request of the Corporation Counsel or client agencies.

+ Representing City-County agencies in administrative hearings or similar settings.

+ Keeping apprised of relevant legal developments at the state and federal level.

+ Overseeing the support work of the litigation staff team, including paralegals, investigators, and office assistants.

+ Performing the duties of the chief litigation counsel when the chief litigation counsel is absent or has delegated such duties.

+ Performing other duties as assigned by the Chief Litigation Counsel or the Corporation Counsel.

Skills Required

Strong independent judgment. This role requires willingness to take individual responsibility for weighty matters that affect the lives and livelihoods of others. While support from other staff and department leadership is available, deputy chiefs must have the confidence and good judgment to make decisions independently in a variety of settings.

In-depth knowledge of litigation practice. As a working manager, the deputy chief litigation counsel is expected to be proficient in all aspects of the litigation process, including legal writing, discovery, mediation, civil procedure, and substantive areas of the law that are frequently implicated by the office’s work, including constitutional law, torts, contract law, and doctrines relating to law enforcement and prisoner litigation.

Strategic vision. The deputy chief litigation counsel is responsible not only for guiding individual cases, but for helping to shape the City-County’s approach to litigation—and litigation-related risk—more generally. This duty requires a broad field of vision, extensive experience in the practice of law, and the ability to understand the long-term implications of the office’s decisions.

Leadership ability. This position often involves managing the work of more junior attorneys and other staff members. The deputy chief must be able to provide useful guidance, meaningfully delegate responsibility, and promote a collegial, respectful work environment.

Analytical ability and intellectual curiosity. This position faces a wide variety of legal issues and fact patterns. The position requires rapidly digesting new information, integrating it into an existing body of knowledge, and adeptly using legal research tools to acquire mastery of all the issues raised by each litigation matter as it arises.

Proficiency at legal writing and other written communication. This includes more formal work product like summary judgment briefs, motions to dismiss, and memoranda. Like all litigation attorneys, holders of this position must also be skilled at more informal communications, including messages to clients, communications with opposing counsel, and summaries of legal research.

Oral communications skills. This includes administrative proceedings, pre-trial hearings before judicial officers, or jury trials. Position holders must concisely, effectively communicate their arguments, be adept at improvising and thinking on their feet, and be able to adapt their tone and messaging to the needs of different audiences in different settings.

Zealous advocacy. Many of the litigation matters handled by this position will be high stakes – both financially and emotionally. Position holders must keep in mind that their client is ultimately the public and must treat their work with the attention and seriousness that it deserves.

Time management skills. Despite their management role, deputy chiefs are responsible for considerable caseloads. Success in the position requires efficiency, strong time management, and the ability to prioritize the most pressing or important tasks.

Ethics and professionalism. Holders of this position are public servants, and so are their clients. All attorneys at the Office of Corporation Counsel, especially those in senior positions, are expected to uphold the highest standards of professional ethics and responsible advocacy.

Qualifications

Minimum Job Requirements and Qualifications

+ Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D.) from an ABA-accredited law school.

+ Valid license to practice law in Indiana.

+ Must be admitted to practice in the Southern District of Indiana.

+ Proficiency in legal research tools, including Westlaw, and familiarity with electronic filing and records management systems.

+ At least five years’ experience in the practice of law as a licensed attorney (may include a judicial clerkship), OR at least two years’ experience as a litigation attorney with the Office of Corporation Counsel.

+ Subject-matter expertise or significant work experience in one or more areas of litigation practice: appeals, federal civil rights defense, tort claims, tax litigation, or contract litigation.

Preferred Job Requirements and Qualifications

+ Five or more years’ experience as a practicing litigator in Indiana.

+ Management experience, preferably in a litigation setting.

+ Significant professional experience (as an attorney or non-attorney) in local government, law enforcement, or administrative procedure.

+ Significant individual experience in conducting complex discovery, authoring dispositive motions, oral advocacy, or trials.

+ Significant practice experience in federal court.

Independent Judgment

Incumbent may exercise independent judgment in application of City and Departmental Polices and state and federal laws, training of litigation employees, reviewing and approving documents written by litigation employees, and performing the non-fiduciary duties of Chief Litigation Counsel in said Counsel's absence. A supervisor is available for consultation. However, the incumbent is expected to function in a professional, effective manner under limited guidance. Incumbent will be granted considerable discretion in daily job functions.