Assistant Corporation Counsel – Tort, Assistant Unit Chief, Toxic and Mass Tort Unit

Under the direction of the TAMTU Chief and Deputy the Assistant Unit Chief will be responsible for overseeing and supervising the defense of toxic and mass tort litigation against the City. More specifically such litigation includes but is not limited to the following case types: exposure to asbestos chemicals and other alleged cancer-causing agents; exposure to pathogens (i.e. Legionella); exposure to particulate matter; sexual assault pursuant to the Gender Motivated Violence Protection Act; and property damage from City water mains sewers gas explosions crane collapses building collapses and construction projects.

Duties include but are not limited to:
-supervising attorneys and support professionals;
-training supervision and assignment of cases to attorneys;
-general oversight of development of litigation and trial strategies;
-oversight of training supervision and assignment of work to clerical and support staff;-
-ensuring the proper preparation of the Units caseload;
-tracking significant litigation events including conference and motion appearances note of issue and summary judgment deadlines trial conferences and trial dates discovery conferences oral arguments and settlement and TAP conferences;
-reviewing assigning and editing written work including affirmative and responsive motions pleadings discovery responses and notices to admit;
-reviewing court orders including but not limited to motion decisions and preliminary conference and compliance conference orders;
-oversight of the compliance with conditional orders;
-oversight of the identification and recommendation of matters for early settlement;
-training attorneys in settlement negotiations;
-participating in in-house and court-sponsored settlement initiatives;
-negotiating settlements;
-conducting settlement conferences;
-general oversight of settlements including in-house and court-sponsored settlement programs;
-ensuring the efficient and timely processing of settlements;
-general oversight of preliminary conference and case reviews;
-interfacing with senior court personnel;
-interfacing with agency liaisons;
-ensuring timely compliance with court-ordered deadlines;
-responding to media inquiries;
-responding to OMB budget inquires and setting projected case reserves for fiscal year plans;
-oversight of expert/vendor retention and budgets;
-maintaining Unit management performance statistics including Themis;
-meeting regularly with Unit attorneys and support professionals;
-general oversight and supervision of Civil and Small Claims Courts;
-oversight and quality control of data entry on Law Department applications including but not limited to Filesite Law Manager/Legal Stratus and Hotdocs and their possible future replacements
-interfacing with City agencies to obtain discovery and to schedule depositions of key witnesses;
-interfacing with State and Federal agencies or task forces;
-reviewing referring and following up with Risk Management issues;
-handling personnel and staffing issues;
-drafting reviewing and monitoring performance enhancement and action plans;
-reviewing and recommending appeal recommendations;
-writing reviewing and editing yearly performance evaluations for attorneys and support staff;
-oversight of mail and file-room procedures;
-maintaining Division legal resources;
-being facile with electronic research and legal research tools;
-being facile with electronic calendaring and management programs; and
-overseeing large document collection projects including facility with electronic document review platforms.

After the completion of orientation attorneys hired by the Law Department will have the opportunity to elect to work from home under one of the following two programs. The first option allows attorneys to work remotely on a limited and irregular basis. The second option is a Citywide pilot program which allows participants to select two set days to work from home each week. The two days will need to be approved by the attorneys division and take into consideration the needs of the division as the pilot program requires more than 50% staff coverage each addition if an attorney needs to appear in court a client meeting or other in-person work related event on a set work from home day they will need to attend to those in-person responsibilities and will not be able to work from home that day. Participants in the pilot program must set one work from home location where they will work remotely. This pilot program is currently being tested Citywide to determine its efficacy for City agencies and is not yet a permanent program.

The Law Department sets salaries for experienced attorneys based on their years of legal experience after law school which is generally consistent with their law school graduation year. Salaries for new hires generally fall within the following salary bands: for 0-5 years of legal experience from $87737 to $122300; for 5-10 years of legal experience from $122300-$137188; for 10-15 years of legal experience from $137188-$159521; for 15-20 years of legal experience from $159521-$180791. Candidates may be hired at a slightly higher rate than others with similar levels of legal experience if they have specialized and unique experience and are hired for a role that requires that specialized and unique experience or if they are hired for a position that is deemed hard to fill. You may contact the Legal Recruitment Office with any questions at

To apply please upload your cover letter resume writing sample and a list of three references with contact information as one document under resume.

ASSISTANT CORPORATION COUNSEL - 30112

Qualifications :

Applicants must be graduates of an ABA approved law school and admitted and in good standing with the NYS bar. Applicants must also have: substantial legal experience in municipal tort law; experience with complex scientific medical and engineering issues including expert witness admissibility and causation standards in toxic tort cases; experience supervising multi-plaintiff and multi-party mass tort cases; demonstrated exceptional organizational managerial and supervisory abilities; strong legal analytical skills; solid knowledge of municipal tort law the CPLR and evidentiary issues; solid knowledge of and experience in personal injury and property-damage case evaluation and valuation of injuries and damages; strong negotiation skills; excellent interpersonal skills; excellent judgment; and admission to SDNY and EDNY and federal court experience. Knowledge of current e-discovery requirements and trial experience are a plus.

Additional Information :

The City of New York is an inclusive equal opportunity employer committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce and providing a work environment that is free from discrimination and harassment based upon any legally protected status or protected characteristic including but not limited to an individuals sex race color ethnicity national origin age religion disability sexual orientation veteran status gender identity or pregnancy.

Remote Work :

No

Employment Type :

Full-time