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 Unit’s 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 attorney’s division and take into consideration the needs of the division, as the pilot program requires more than 50% staff coverage each day. In 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 consis...

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